Thanks Don for that information. I am surprised at that, but it does made some sense I suppose. I guess it begs the question, what are the benefits of tight growth rings? I once heard that in old times, the timber framer in Bavaria, favored the trees that grew on the north slope of the valley (the side of the that faced north) as this is where the slowest growing trees were with the tightest rings. My experience has been that the trees that come from a southern facing slope are faster growing and chase the sun more which causes tension to build in the tree which is where you see spiral checking (esp. bavarian rule of twist). The trees from the north facing slope do not chase the sun as much and tend to have tighter growth rings and less spiral checking. Can anyone verify or help me with this theory?
