Lumber Grading

Re: Lumber Grading

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

Walnut grade rules differ from most wood. FAS in walnut is 5"and wider, 6' and longer. Walnut is difficult to grade because of all the special rules that apply.

That said, when supplies are abundant it is unusual to see 6 and 7' lumber is a pack of walnut. These short pieces will be separated at the mill and sold as short packs for a reduced price. I have bought these short packs as a substantial discount to longer lengths when supplies are ample. Right now supplies are not abundant and I suspect quality sucks. Short, narrow and lots of sap

When we sold lumber walnut and cherry were the two species I would not order just by grade because what was included in the top grades was too variable. Back in the great crash of 2008 I saw a pack of 8' walnut at a wholesaler that had many boards in it 12" and wider. Ditto for cherry. I'll bet I could buy 10,000 bdft of walnut today and not have a 10"board in it.

Re: Lumber Grading

Craig Spacek

Thanks, I'm glad I asked here before raising a big stink at the dealer and embarrassing myself.

Lumber Grading...more

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

The grading situation for hardwood lumber has gotten vastly more complicated then when we were in the business. It used to be that National Hardwood Lumber Association,NHLA, ruled the the world of hardwood lumber. This organization provided the standards we are familiar with- FAS, #1 common , etc.

When I visited Baillie Lumber a few years ago I was told they put up packs of oak and poplar that have over 50 internal grading standards. I asked what would happed if I ordered a pack of 4/4 red oak "FAS1F and BTR". I was told they would select lumber from their custom grades to make the pack look like this grade. Be assured no extra wide lumber would show up in these reassembled packs. And then there is international grading for export. These desirable packs can show up when a retailer orders lumber for resale.

The result is that wide and figured lumber has disappeared from "NHLA graded" packs of lumber. We used to get curly maple in packs of hard maple, and oak boards up to 18" wide in routine packs of oak and poplar. Not any more. The huge mills that now dominate hardwood lumber production pull out all this "special" lumber and sell it in their custom grades.

There is an abundance of oak and poplar. A retailer buying a pack of these species for retail will get about the same quality lumber from time to time. Not the case with walnut and cherry, and now white oak. If one looks at the details when a retailer buys a pack of NHLA graded walnut for resale it will not be FAS. It will in fact be "Select and Better" which includes the top 4 grades- firsts, seconds, first and seconds 1 face and select. When walnut is abundant the pack will be mostly first and seconds (FAS). When the market is tight there will be more or less of the lower grades. Or, the retailer may order a pack of walnut graded by some standard that is not NHLA. I suppose a retailer could order a custom graded pack of walnut 6" and wider with no sap. Because we are all familiar with FAS, it would be retailed as FAS.

For these reasons when lumber supply is tight I recommend looking at the walnut and cherry you intend to buy to see what in fact you will be getting.

same here with cherry...

David Weaver

..FAS grade cherry 15 years ago was generally good color. Now, it can be almost any color and suntan won't solve the difference (the light stuff stays a little lighter).

Your comments about sorting of packs applies here, too. The retail places here seem to cater to trim carpenters as they pull the lumber on one of the closer places here and while all of the wood may be close to grade, there's nothing special in it anywhere - anything good is long gone. Guessing that's due to improvements in sorting equipment at the mill.

It's probably also true that the market for wide boards and specialty stuff is fairly small. I saw a sawyer on youtube talking about cutting large pine logs and he had really nice clear 25-28" wide boards and then sawed them to narrower lengths. Someone asked in the comments, and the next time he did it, he said he generally doesn't keep much wide board material as the market for it is small and it just sits. Everyone ooohs and aaahs about it, but it's slow selling compared to more typical sizes that furniture factories will buy in droves.

There are enough independent small millers here to get what you want if you're willing to go to them and tell them, but what shows up at retail is a lot more mediocre and consistently similar.

More sap in cherry at retail than there was 15 years ago, too. Walnut is too high to even consider for a hobbyist making much of anything and the boards are narrower.