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Local tree will come down soon - large enough to be useful for tops. Has anyone ever built with Norway Spruce for tops? Is it suitable? Thanks

Cool - thanks, Todd! That's good news. I know the growing conditions aren't close to ideal - and the tree has probably grown much faster than preferable, but it might be fun to harvest some tops from it and see what comes of it.

Make sure you post some pics -

I like some patterns and color in the spruces - sounds like you may have a candidate with a fast grown tree.

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Will do, John. Kind of a cool story - huge tree (diameter has got to be at least 4 feet at the base of the trunk) in the front lawn of a house across the street - the house just sold and I'm told the new owners don't want to keep the tree as it's very close to the house. With a bit of luck I'll get my hands on a couple of cross - sections of the trunk.

Hey, does anyone know why Picea Abies is known as Norway/Norwegian Spruce in the English speaking world in the first place? I don't, but I assume it could be because we sold a lot of to the British over the years. As far as I know its not called that anywhere else. We just call it...spruce

There is a species called "Nordmannsgran" in our language, which can be translated to Norwegian spruce, but it doesn't even grow here! It is actually Abies nordmanniana, a fir native to the mountains south and east of the Black Sea, in Turkey, Georgia, Russian Caucasus and northern parts of Armenia which is named after Alexander von Nordmann (1803-1866), Professor of Botany at Odessa (according to wiki). Live and learn!

BTW, I can attest that Picea Abies grown in Norway can work fine as a tonewood, it is quite similar to spruce from other parts of the continent as far as I can tell. Why wouldn't it be?

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin