Sinker heartwood dries more slowly than normal heartwood of western hemlock. Extraction with ethanol or acetone and presteaming improved the rate of drying of sinker heart-wood. Electron microscopy was used to examine bordered pits in normal and sinker heartwood and extracted specimens of sinker heartwood. Parallel capacitance was lowest in sapwood, higher in normal heartwood, and highest in sinker heartwood. The range in capacitance was related to total extractive content at similar moisture contents
