• Baker, Gregory
  University of Maine, Orono, Me
  

Specific Gravity, especially relative value within the natural specific gravity range of a species, is one of the indicators of tree and wood quality.  An increase in the specific gravity of wood is associated with an increase in its strength. This correlation is strong when applied to variations in specific gravity are also correlated with the yield (in weight) of pulp fiber from wood (1,3). even seemingly small variations in specific gravity can cause significant differences in the weight of dry wood material per cubic foot, or per cord, of wood. For example, a difference in specific gravity of 0.01 would cause a difference in the weight per cubic foot of dry wood fiber amounting to 0.624 pounds or, on the basis of 90 cubic feet of wood per cor. Variations in specific gravity may also affect other properties of wood such as drying, machining, finishing, and gluing.