Method and apparatus for assessing or predicting the characteristics of wood

An apparatus for determining a characteristic of a portion of a wood specimen comprising:

• an acoustic signal generator;
• an acoustic transmitter device configured to provide an acoustic signal from the acoustic signal generator to the wood specimen part way along the length of the wood specimen wherein the distance from a first end of the wood specimen to the location where the acoustic signal is produced corresponds to a sample portion;
• at least one receiver configured to sense acoustic signals within the wood specimen including a reverberation from the first end of the wooden specimen;
• a processor electrically connected to the receiver;
• and
• wherein the processor is configured to determine a characteristic of the sample portion of the wood specimen from the sensed acoustic signals.

An apparatus for determining a characteristic of a portion of a wood specimen comprising:

• a harvester head;
• an acoustic signal generator;
• an acoustic transmitter device attached to the harvester head and adapted to provide an acoustic signal from the acoustic signal generator to the wood specimen;
• at least one receiver attached to the harvester head and configured to detect acoustic signals within the wood specimen including a reverberation from at least one end;
• a processor electrically connected to the receiver;
• and wherein the processor is configured to determine a characteristic of a portion of the wood specimen from the sensed acoustic signals.