Development of in situ soft colloidal probe atomic force microscopy for probing the adhesion between wood extractives and model surfaces

•A new method developed to attach soft colloid onto tipless AFM cantilever.•Adhesion forces of abietic acid and wood extractives (WE) are lowest on cellulose.•On chromium, adhesion forces are highest for abietic acid (AA) and WE.•Adhesion forces of AA and WE on cellulose and chromium are comparable.•AA, instead of TrO and OA, preferentially transfers from cellulose to chromium.