• Faust, Timothy D.
  Warnell School of Forest Resources, University of Georgia
  
• Saucier, Joseph R.
  US Forest Service, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station
  
• Nicholls, David
  Warnell School of Forest Resources, University of Georgia
  

Specific gravity is an important measure of wood quality for many of its applications. Gravimetric techniques are tedious to determine inter- and intra-ring specific gravities. X-ray densitometry techniques provide a faster method of measuring specific gravity. However the initial cost of the equipment is high and the preparation of the specimen is critical. The image analysis (IA) techniques are also fast and do not require the extensive specimen preparation of the x-ray techniques. The objective of this study was to compare the three techniques on cores of southern pine and perform a correlation analysis of the three techniques.

A total of 130 (5 mm) cores were measured by the three techniques. The cores were cut from disks so that the pith was accurately included in the sample. The gravimetric method was performed only on the whole core. Inter- and intra-ring specific gravity was measured by x-ray and image analysis techniques.