Formation of surface free radicals on wood surfaces during plasma treatment could be an important factor when it comes to wood coating adhesion enhancement. In order to explore this aspect, freshly sanded black spruce (Picea mariana) wood samples were exposed to either plane-to-plane atmospheric-pressure dielectric barrier discharge (AP-DBD) or the flowing afterglow of an AP-DBD and then dipped in a 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) solution. Wood veneers (extracted to eliminate small molecules prior to each plasma treatment) showed an increase of their reaction rate toward DPPH after treatment in the AP-DBD operated in nominally pure He; a feature ascribed to the plasma-assisted formation of free radicals on the wood surface. Addition of trace amounts (0.1%) of O-2 in the He plasma produced a decrease in DPPH reactivity, suggesting that oxygen-spruce interaction during plasma treatment quenches free radicals formation. Similar experiments performed using the flowing afterglow of AP-DBD operated in either N-2 or N-2/O-2 showed that both treatments do not generate significant amount of surface free radicals. This partially results from oxygen-wood interactions due to the open-air configuration of the afterglow reactor. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.