Abies alba
Sapin pectiné
Spruce without the resin. The softest species in the KORENA catalogue, and the best softwood here for a painted finish.
- This species is recorded as commercially grown in Europe. This does not establish where an individual piece was harvested; check its origin details.
- Groupe botanique. Les résineux sont des conifères, les feuillus sont des arbres à feuilles larges.
- Famille botanique à laquelle appartient l’essence.
Être informé du prochain arrivageEssence de référence. Aucun plateau en stock pour le moment.
Convient-il à votre projet ?
Idéal pour
- Wall and ceiling panelling
- Painted furniture
- Lightweight carcass work
- Shelving
- Interior joinery
Aucun plateau en Sapin pectiné dans la sélection actuelle
Essences similaires en stock
Aucun plateau en Sapin pectiné pour le moment. Ces essences conviennent aux mêmes projets et sont disponibles.
Soyez informé des arrivages en Sapin pectiné
Nous vous envoyons un e-mail lorsque de nouveaux plateaux en Sapin pectiné arrivent chez KORENA. Chaque plateau est unique, mieux vaut donc être prévenu rapidement.
Aspect du bois
Son aspect
Very close to Norway Spruce in appearance and routinely sold interchangeably with it. Silver Fir is a shade duller and greyer, entirely without the resin pockets that mark spruce, because the species has no resin canals in its wood. Grain is straight, texture fine and even, and the overall impression is flatter and quieter than spruce.
- Near white to pale grey-brown, duller than spruce
- No visible heartwood boundary
- No resin pockets, the clearest way to tell it from spruce
- Bois clair au fil droit ; presque aucun canal résinifère.
Travail du bois
Son travail en atelier
Generally easy with both hand and machine tools, and it glues, stains and finishes better than spruce because the absence of resin canals makes absorption more even. The same softness caveat applies: sharp cutters are essential or the earlywood crushes and fuzzes. It holds detail poorly under carving tools, so it is not a carving wood despite being soft.
Finition
Takes stain and finish noticeably better than spruce, though it is still a softwood with uneven density and a conditioner remains sensible before pigment stain. It is one of the better softwood choices for a painted finish, since the fine even texture needs little grain filling. Clear finishes leave it looking pale and slightly cool.
Séchage
Dries readily and without much degrade, and because there are no resin canals there is no resin bleed to manage, which is a genuine advantage over spruce in thick sections. Wet pockets of bacterially infected wood, sometimes called wetwood, occur in older trees and dry slowly and unevenly. A yard that has kilned the stock properly will have caught these. Movement in service is moderate at around 12.8 percent volumetric.
De combien va-t-il bouger ?
Le bois gonfle et se rétracte en largeur selon que l’air devient plus humide ou plus sec. Estimez le mouvement saisonnier d’un plateau en Sapin pectiné avant de concevoir les fixations.
Mouvement saisonnier attendu
environ 9,9 mm
Fixez le plateau avec des taquets ou des équerres à trous oblongs, sans colle ni vis trop serrées.
Modèle de retrait linéaire : largeur × (retrait ÷ 28 % de point de saturation des fibres) × variation saisonnière d’humidité. Utilise un retrait tangentiel de 8,7 % pour le Sapin pectiné. Il s’agit d’une estimation de conception, pas d’une garantie.
Son prix
Sécurité et origine
- This species is recorded as commercially grown in Europe. This does not establish where an individual piece was harvested; check its origin details.
- Statut sur la Liste rouge de l’UICN : évaluation mondiale de la conservation de cette essence.
Species in the Abies genus have been reported to cause skin irritation, though severe reactions are uncommon. Standard dust extraction and a P2 mask for extended machining cover it.
Lire le guide completNotes détaillées sur la figure, l’évolution de la couleur, le travail et la stabilité.
What Silver Fir actually is#
Abies alba is the tree most people have looked at without knowing it. It is a major component of central European mountain forest, it is the traditional Christmas tree across much of the continent, and its timber is sold through the trade as whitewood alongside Norway Spruce with little distinction drawn between them. For most construction purposes that conflation is harmless. For slab work it is worth separating, because the one structural difference between the two species changes how the wood behaves.
Silver Fir has no resin canals. Spruce does. Everything that follows from that, the absence of resin pockets, the cleaner behaviour under paint, the more even stain absorption, the lack of bleed in thick sections, is the reason to choose fir over spruce rather than treat them as the same board.
Reading a Silver Fir slab#
Colour range is narrow: near white through to a pale grey-brown, with no heartwood boundary to speak of. Against spruce it reads flatter and cooler, a fraction duller, and without the amber flecking that gives spruce its visual interest.
Because colour gives you so little, judge the slab on ring structure and defects. Tight rings from slow mountain growth mean a denser, stiffer, more stable board. Knots are the usual limiting factor, and fir knots are somewhat less hard and less prone to tear-out than spruce knots, which makes them slightly easier to machine through when you have no choice.
Questions des acheteurs
Questions fréquentes des acheteurs
How do I tell Silver Fir from Norway Spruce?
Look for resin pockets. Spruce has resin canals and shows amber pockets and streaks; Silver Fir has none at all, so a clean pale board with no resin marks is almost certainly fir. Fir also reads slightly greyer and duller. The two are close enough that they are frequently sold interchangeably as whitewood.
Is Silver Fir better than spruce for painted work?
Yes, generally. The fine even texture needs little grain filling and the absence of resin canals means no bleed-through under paint. Spruce resin pockets can telegraph through a painted finish months later unless sealed with shellac first.
Can I use Silver Fir outdoors?
Not untreated. It is rated non-durable to perishable with little resistance to insect attack, which is the lowest durability in this group. European larch or Douglas fir are the appropriate choices for exposure.
Is it hard enough for a desk top?
At 1,420 N Janka it is the softest species KORENA lists, softer even than spruce. A desk top in fir will mark under a pen pressed through paper. It works for a light-use surface finished in a refreshable hardwax oil, but for daily writing use a harder species.
Propriétés mécaniques
Données techniques
Valeurs de référence publiées. Lorsque les sources divergent, la plage est indiquée et la valeur courante sert aux échelles ci-dessus.
| Densité (kg/m³)Masse par mètre cube à environ 12 % d’humidité. Un bois plus lourd est généralement plus dur et plus résistant. | 415 kg/m³ |
|---|---|
| Dureté Janka (N)Force nécessaire pour enfoncer à moitié une bille d’acier dans le bois. Mesure standard de la résistance à l’enfoncement. | 1,420 N |
| MOR : module de rupture (MPa)Résistance à la flexion : charge à laquelle une poutre casse. | 66 MPa |
| MOE : module d’élasticité (GPa)Rigidité en flexion : fléchissement d’une étagère ou d’un plateau sous une charge. | 8.3 GPa |
| Retrait radialRetrait perpendiculaire aux cernes, du bois vert au bois anhydre. Les planches sur quartier travaillent dans ce sens. | 4.0 % |
| Retrait tangentielRetrait dans le sens des cernes. Les planches sur dosse et la plupart des plateaux travaillent dans ce sens. |
