Unseasoned (green) spruce timber side boards of size 25 × 120 × 600 mm were flatwiseglued with a one-component PUR adhesive. Glued pairs of boards were then kiln-dried to 12 % moisture content. A special small-scale specimen for testing the fracture properties of the adhesive bond in Mode I was developed in order to evaluate the adhesive bond properties. The complete force versus deformation curve, including both the ascending and the descending parts, could be obtained with these small-scale specimens, enabling the strength and fracture energy of the bond line to be calculated. In addition, the fractured specimens were examined by scanning electron microscope. Results show that both the tensile strength and the fracture energy of the green glued PUR adhesive bonds were equal to those of the dry glued bonds. The methodology developed and used in the present study gives new possibilities for analysis of the mechanical behaviour of wood adhesive bonds, and particularly of their brittleness and its correlation with the type of fracture path. This is in sharp contrast to the use of standardised test methods (e.g. EN 302, ASTM D905) with specimens having relatively large glued areas. Using such types of specimens, it is not possible to obtain the complete force versus deformation response of the bond. In addition, when using such test methods, failure takes place in the wood or in the fibres near the bond, thus making it impossible to obtain detailed information about the bond line characteristics.