"WAIFIR" - The Douglas Fir brand of Waimea Sawmillers Ltd

Waimea Sawmillers "WAIFIR":
	is milled from a renewable plantation forest.
	is suitable for most interior uses – Construction, Exposed Beams, FormWork, Boards, Panelling, Sarking.
	stays naturally straight.
	has naturally low moisture content, and is light in weight.
	is visually attractive.
	has good strength ratings.
	is price competitive.
Wood Quality of Douglas Fir
Douglas Fir is widely used in the construction industry for light and heavy framing, piling and plywood, such as roof trusses, wall frames, large beams and concrete formwork. The species has a high reputation as a strong and stable structural timber even in subtropical climates.

Wood Anatomy

Douglas Fir has a reputation for being strong and highly textured due to the pronounced earlywood/latewood contrast. It is a heartwood species, with a rich, red colour and a moisture content in the range of 40-55% at the time of cutting, whereas Radiata is light coloured and is a Sapwood species - MC 100-140%.

Physical Properties

A Douglas Fir unit ready for shipment
Douglas Fir unit ready for shipment

	Green Density - Douglas Fir is drier than Radiata Pine.
	Basic Density - it is primarily used for framing and engineering purposes where wood density is particularly important.
	Fast grown wood and typical course texture.
	Douglas Fir does not have the low density core characteristics of Radiata Pine.
	No clear-cut regional variation which can be related to environmental factors.
	Branching habits - it does not produce discrete whorls, which is an advantage for structural timber.
	Shrinkage - It has a low incidence of spiral grain and compression wood around the pith which allows timber to retain its shape and dries better. It is more suitable in response to humidity in air.
	Attack from wood boring insects is rare and restricted to the sapwood, so heartwood may be used in interior situations without treatment.
	Douglas Fir exhibits more uniform properties within stems than Radiata therefore does not have a well-defined low quality corewood zone.
	The less desirable features of Radiata Pine such as high longitudinal shrinkage near pith, spiral grain and compression wood are virtually absent in Douglas Fir.
	The opinion that many have is that there will be little difference between American 2nd growth and NZ plantation Douglas Fir in the future.
	Overall visual and stress grading results in COL Douglas Fir are substantially better than for Radiata old crop.
	Waimea Sawmillers Ltd has had visual and machine stress grading tests carried out on Douglas Fir at FRI in Rotorua. The timber was graded in accordance with standards AS2858 and NZ3613, which allow up to 5% of material to contain defects that exceed the visual specifications of each grade. The results indicate Waimea Sawmillers Ltd Douglas Fir was very well visually graded, with no material below the No1 or No2 grade - mixed or specified.
	Machine Stress Grading Results - NZ grades of Douglas Fir tended to be up graded by the machine. Waimea Sawmillers Ltd Douglas Fir sample group (F5, No.1 F and No.2 F mixed) exceeded the strength and stiffness requirement for their given grades. In fact both groups meet the requirements for Australian F7 grade.

Suitability of Douglas Fir for Products

Douglas Fir has good appearance and design stresses superior to those for Radiata Pine. It is a superior structural timber. Grade recoveries (both visual and machine stress grading) from Douglas Fir are substantially better than from old crop Radiata Pine. Studies have shown that about 60% of NZ material is strong enough for engineering uses and that it is most effectively selected using machine stress grading.

Douglas Fir framing

Air and Kiln drying times for Douglas Fir are slightly faster and the tendency to warp is markedly lower. However, the main difference between the two species is the greater susceptibility of Radiata Pine pith pieces to twist - supporting the reputation of Douglas Fir as more stable species.

Douglas Fir sawn timber is suitable for use in buildings without preservation treatment.

Freshly sawn, it is not as susceptible to sapstain as pine timber.

Douglas Fir is renowned as a refractory species because of the difficulty of getting chemicals into both the heartwood and the dry sapwood.