Response of Eastern Spruce Finger Joints to Variation In Assembly Time and Moisture Content

Eastern spruce finger joints that were manufactured at three wood moisture contents (8, 12, 14%) and three open assembly times (10, 20, 30 min) were tested in tension and static bending to evaluate the quality of the adhesive bonds. The adhesive used was room-temperature setting phenol-resorcinol. No appreciable differences were noted in bond performance at any of the assembly conditions, although the low MC group tended to show less wood failure in the tension tests. Maximum tensile stress and modulus of rupture values ranged from 62-88% of the respective handbook values for solid red spruce