I'm sure most of us have seen the commercial for Ancestory.com The one where the guy thought he was German and he turned out to be Austrian.....On that note...can someone post some pictures on the slight difference between Norway Spruce and Scotch Pine.....I think they are so close I'm starting to wonder what I actually have...Thanks guys...
Almost a derailment from the start! Whew! Glad I had nothing to do with Anyhow, this is how NS grows around here, the bows give it away:
It should be easy to tell the difference between spruce and pine. Spruce are the classic "Christmas tree" shape, with short needles and much more densely branched than pine. Pines have long needles and fewer, larger limbs that form evenly spaced rings, about every 14-16" or so. Spruce will have rings of branches too, but the spacing will be more random and there will be some "renegades" not in rings at all. Here's some red pine: Trunk of the same tree; spruce in the background: What it looks like cut up:
Grab a live tree branch near the end. If your hand hurts after, it was a spruce. If it is just sticky it was a pine or a fir. Spruce needles are shorter than any pine and are solid so they feel sharp. Fir and pine needles are very flexible and just bend.
Scotch pine has long and sharp needles and it hurts to touch. Can't comment on Norway spruce, never dealt with any, but I can assume the same but short needles.
When looking at a cross section of a needle, remember; fir are flat, spruce are square and pine are pie or semi-circle.
scotch pine - Google Search Hint: You can do a search on any type of tree. When the results come up, look at the top of the page and click on "Images" and you will find many.
Thanks Dennis...Well it looks like I have Scotch Pine after all....Tough as nails to split by hand Wow!!!!
It splits easiest radially with the center. If there's a really big knot on one side, I like to saw the round in half right through it ("noodling").
