Tips and Tricks for Buying the Right Quality Wood
Buying wood is both the challenge and fun of woodworking. One option to consider is acquiring green wood and drying it yourself or taking it to a qualified drying facility, such as Wilde Edge Woodcraft. Freshly cut lumber, or green wood, has a high moisture content, which for hardwoods can range from 60 % to 100 % of the dry weight. Our iDry Kilns provide a fast and effective way of drying wood to a moisture level appropriate for your furniture, cabinetmaking, and other projects.
However, most of the woodworkers prefer paying hard cash at the lumberyard for their stock. To ensure that you get what you pay for, it’s a good idea to become familiar with standard lumber nomenclature, including the various lumber terms used in the trade and the grading systems for classifying the quality of the wood you buy. Once you are equipped with this information and know a few tricks for selecting good wood and avoiding the bad, you will be able to buy wood from the yard with confidence.
Understanding Lumber Terms
Lumber terminology can appear complex and mysterious to a beginner, but it’s not difficult to understand if you familiarize yourself with a few basic terms and some general lumber-making rules.
When wood is sold at the mill or lumberyard, it’s measured in board feet. This involves using a simple formula that allows lumberyards and merchants to calculate amounts of wood in spite of the fact that lumber isn’t uniform in size. The formula is based on one board foot equaling a piece of rough-sawn wood 1 in. thick by 12 in. wide by 12 in. long, or it’s cubic equivalent.
How to Calculate Total Board Feet?
To find the total board feet of a given board, you multiply (in inches) thickness by width by length, then divide by 144. For example, to calculate the number of board feet in a rough-sawn board measuring 1 ½ in. thick by 6 ¾ in. wide by 8 ft. long, the formula is as follows:
5 x 6.75 x 96 ÷ 144 = 6.75 bd. ft.
Get to know this formula well, since you will use it to calculate the total board feet you need when purchasing lumber.
Rough Lumber and Surfaced Lumber
Once you get to the lumberyard, you will encounter two general types of lumber; rough lumber and surfaced lumber. Rough lumber consists of boards that have been sawn to size but have not surfaced. Surfaced lumber has gone through the next step by having one or more of its four faces smoothed, typically by being sent through a thickness planer. You can buy either variety at Wild Edge Woodcraft. However, some prefer buying rough lumber, to surfacing it themselves. Buying rough lumber enables you to have more control over the process, which ultimately results in flatter, straighter wood.
Dimensioning Wood
Knowing that mills routinely surface lumber is important for understanding another piece of possibly confusing lumber terminology. When a mill sells you a surfaced board, it describes it as seemingly thicker than what you actually get. Don’t worry, no one is trying to trick you.
Here’s what happens: Lumber at the yard or mill is rough-sawn to a given thickness that is described in terms of “quarters,” with each quarter representing ¼ in. of thickness. For example, 4/4 (pronounced “four-quarter”) is rough-sawn lumber approximately 1 in. thick. If you buy your wood in the rough, you will get a piece that’s about 1 in. thick. However, if you buy that same board surfaced on two sides (typically the two wide faces), it’s still described as being 4/4, yet you get a board that’s ¾ in. thick — ¼ in. less than the quarter terminology led you to believe it would be. The simple answer is that when sawn boards are surfaced by the mill, they typically lose ¼ in. of actual thickness in the process. For details, see the chart below.
Lumber Grading Terminology
Lumber grading also has its own terminology. When you purchase hardwood at the lumber yard, it is graded based on the number of defects in each board. The fewer the defects, the more expensive the board. Grading is based on rules set by the National Hardwood Lumber Association (NHLA). While these rules are strict and followed by all lumber manufacturers and suppliers, there are exceptions, depending on the species. The lumber grades and their description below show the basic guidelines graders follow to classify boards. Furniture makers typically rely on FAS 1-Face and better, but you can save money by buying lesser-quality grades and cutting around defects, especially if you are milling small parts or making narrow moldings.
Grading Terms – Lumber Grades and their Description
First: Premium boards at least 6 in. wide, 8 ft. long, and 91 ⅔ percent clear of defects.
Seconds: Premium boards at least 6 in. wide, 8 ft. long, and 81 ⅔ percent clear of defects.
FAS: “First and Seconds” combined into one grade, at least 81 ⅔ percent clear of defects.
Firsts 1-Face: One face must meet the minimum requirements of FAS; the second face cannot be below No. 1 Common.
No. 1 Common: Boards at least 3 in. wide, 4 ft. long, and 66 ⅔ percent clear of defects.
No. 2 Common: Boards at least 3 in. wide, 4 ft. long, and 50 percent clear of defects.
Buying from Lumberyards
Looking for hardwoods at your local lumberyard or home center can sometimes be a disappointing experience. Home centers usually stock dimensioned softwoods for building materials and very few hardwoods. For a greater variety of furniture-quality wood, you can search for hardwood suppliers near you. You might be surprised at the number of small, family-run lumber sellers in your area. Don’t forget to check out your local sawmills. Many small sawmills sell green hardwood lumber directly to the public, often at reduced prices. If you still can’t find a source in your area, you can visit us or our website, or contact us by phone or email. We will guide you in buying the right wood for your projects. We saw logs, kiln dry wood, and flattened slabs.
