Most softwood lumber in North America is pine, spruce or fir, and the names are confusing: “SPF” studs are spruce, pine and fir mixed; “Doug fir” is not a true fir; and “pine” ranges from soft white pine to heavy southern yellow pine. This page compares four representative species from the Wood Handbook: eastern white pine, loblolly pine (southern yellow pine), Engelmann spruce and coast Douglas-fir.
Pine vs Spruce vs Fir: the numbers
| Property | Eastern white pine | Loblolly pine | Engelmann spruce | Douglas-fir (Coast) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Janka side hardness, 12% MC | 380 lbf | 690 lbf | 390 lbf | 710 lbf |
| Density at 12% MC | 24.5 lb/ft³ | 35.7 lb/ft³ | 24.5 lb/ft³ | 33.6 lb/ft³ |
| Weight per board foot | 2.04 lb | 2.97 lb | 2.04 lb | 2.80 lb |
| Bending strength (MOR), 12% MC | 8,600 psi | 12,800 psi | 9,300 psi | 12,400 psi |
| Stiffness (MOE), 12% MC | 1.24 million psi | 1.79 million psi | 1.3 million psi | 1.95 million psi |
| Crushing strength parallel to grain | 4,800 psi | 7,130 psi | 4,480 psi | 7,230 psi |
| Shrinkage green to ovendry, tangential | 6.1% | 7.4% | 7.1% | 7.6% |
| Shrinkage, radial | 2.1% | 4.8% | 3.8% | 4.8% |
| Shrinkage, volumetric | 8.2% | 12.3% | 11.0% | 12.4% |
| Tangential / radial ratio (cupping tendency) | 2.9 | 1.54 | 1.87 | 1.58 |
| Width change per 1% MC, flatsawn (Table 13-5) | 0.212% | 0.259% | 0.248% | 0.267% |
| Heartwood decay resistance (Table 14-1) | moderately resistant (old growth only); otherwise slightly or nonresistant | slightly or nonresistant | slightly or nonresistant | moderately resistant |
What the numbers mean
- Hardness: Loblolly pine is 82% harder than Eastern white pine (690 against 380 lbf), so it resists dents from furniture feet, dropped tools and wear correspondingly better.
- Weight: Loblolly pine is 46% heavier. A 1 x 6 board 8 feet long (4 board feet nominal) weighs about 11.9 lb in loblolly pine and 8.2 lb in eastern white pine at 12% moisture content.
- Strength and stiffness: Loblolly pine is 49% stronger in bending and 44% stiffer. Stiffness is what decides how much a shelf of the same size sags under the same load.
- Movement: a flatsawn board 10 in wide that goes from 6% to 12% moisture content (a dry winter to a humid summer indoors) swells about 0.127 in (1/8 in) in eastern white pine and 0.155 in (5/32 in) in loblolly pine, from Handbook Eq. 13-2 and the Table 13-5 coefficients. Allow for this in table tops, panels and floors.
- Decay resistance of the heartwood: Eastern white pine: moderately resistant (old growth only); otherwise slightly or nonresistant; Loblolly pine: slightly or nonresistant; Engelmann spruce: slightly or nonresistant; Douglas-fir (Coast): moderately resistant. Sapwood of every species has low decay resistance.
- The percentages above compare the first two columns; the table also lists Engelmann spruce and Douglas-fir (Coast) for comparison.
Appearance, working and what to watch for
Douglas-fir and southern pine are the heavy, strong framing woods: in the Handbook they are the stiffest of the four, which is why they are used for joists, rafters and beams. Spruce and the soft pines are light and much less dense. Spruce is pale, mild and straight-grained with a high stiffness for its weight, which is why Sitka and Engelmann spruce are used for soundboards. True firs (balsam, white, grand) are similar in weight to spruce and are mixed with it in SPF lumber.
For building, compare grade stamps rather than species names: structural lumber is graded, and the design values for each species group and grade are published separately from these clear-wood figures. For woodworking, eastern white pine is the easiest to work and has the lowest tangential shrinkage of the four; southern pine has hard latewood bands that make it tougher to plane and stain evenly; Douglas-fir has striking grain on vertical-grain (quartersawn) boards and is used for doors and trim.
Which to choose: verdict by use
| Use | Better choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Floor joists, rafters and beams | Douglas-fir or southern pine | Highest stiffness and strength; follow the grade stamp and local code. |
| Wall studs | SPF, Douglas-fir or southern pine | Any graded stud works for typical walls; SPF is light and straight. |
| Pressure-treated lumber | Southern pine | Accepts preservative treatment well. |
| Furniture, trim, carving | Eastern white pine | Soft, stable, easy to work. |
| Instrument soundboards | Spruce | High stiffness for its weight. |
| Doors and clear vertical-grain trim | Douglas-fir | Attractive straight grain on quartersawn stock. |
Frequently asked questions
Which is stronger, pine, spruce or fir?
Of these four, Douglas-fir (12,400 psi) and loblolly pine (12,800 psi) are much stronger in bending than Engelmann spruce (9,300 psi) and eastern white pine (8,600 psi).
What does SPF lumber mean?
Spruce-pine-fir: a group of similar light softwoods (several spruces, lodgepole and jack pine, and true firs) graded and sold together.
Is Douglas-fir a fir?
No. Douglas-fir is genus Pseudotsuga, not a true fir (Abies). It is one of the strongest and stiffest North American softwoods.
Sources and method
All property values are read from our parsed copy of the USDA Forest Products Laboratory Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material (FPL-GTR-190, 2010), a US Government publication in the public domain, the same data as the wood species database. The percentages and the board examples above are our arithmetic on those values. The values describe small, clear, straight-grained specimens: real boards with knots or sloping grain differ, and structural lumber is sized from graded design values in your local building code, not from this table.
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory. Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material. General Technical Report FPL-GTR-190, 2010. Chapter 2 (species descriptions), Chapter 4 (Tables 4-3, 4-4 shrinkage; Eq. 4-7, 4-9, 4-12 density), Chapter 5 (Tables 5-3b, 5-5b strength and hardness), Chapter 13 (Table 13-5 dimensional change coefficients), Chapter 14 (Table 14-1 decay resistance)
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory. Wood Handbook, 2021 edition (FPL-GTR-282)
Last reviewed: 24 October 2026. How we build and check our data: methodology and corrections. Spotted an error? Please let us know.