Wood questions - Public Lumber Company, determining species at the lumberyard

"Corrie" wrote in message
om...
AHA! It's all in the wrist, or in getting the correct search terms in
google. Depends what you want to do. Anyway, here are a couple of
links to info:

http://www.lsuagcenter.com/Communica...e/3nws0806.htm
http://www.safnet.org/archive/0703_howtointerpret.cfm

From that second site, here's some interesting info:

"...species groups ... are denoted by these abbreviations:
Spruce-Pine-Fir S-P-F
..."

I saw a *lot* of lumber at the yard stamped S-P-F. Spruce-pine-fir,
doesn't matter for wall studs. Oh joy, or rupture.

The wood you find at the Borg* may have the word "Fir" but you will notice
the absence of the modifier "Douglas". I'm about the open up a wall in my
living room and install a couple more windows. You can bet I'll be going to
a real lumber yard and buying kiln-dried Douglas Fir studs and headers. That
wet sub-species crap at the Borg will twist and turn like a stick of red
licorice as it cures.

*Borg: Aliens who operation out of a cube-shaped ship (may be disguised as a
building).

Rich S.

"Daniel" wrote in message
om...

Certificated by whom? Anybody with a chainsaw & a porta-mill can
declare whatever grade they wish on any lumber they produce. Heck,
take the basic quality designations for #2 construction lumber & see
what percentage of the ordinary wall studs at Big Orange even meet the
specs stamped on them. I think a plane builder is far better off
performing his/her own pass/fail inspections than trusting Larry the
Lumberjack to have done so correctly at the mill.

Just like adhesives.

Rich S.

Corrie wrote:

"Rich S." wrote in message ...
"Corrie" wrote in message
om...
AHA! It's all in the wrist, or in getting the correct search terms in
google. Depends what you want to do. Anyway, here are a couple of
links to info:

http://www.lsuagcenter.com/Communica...e/3nws0806.htm
http://www.safnet.org/archive/0703_howtointerpret.cfm

From that second site, here's some interesting info:

"...species groups ... are denoted by these abbreviations:
Spruce-Pine-Fir S-P-F
..."

I saw a *lot* of lumber at the yard stamped S-P-F. Spruce-pine-fir,
doesn't matter for wall studs. Oh joy, or rupture.

The wood you find at the Borg* may have the word "Fir" but you will notice
the absence of the modifier "Douglas". I'm about the open up a wall in my
living room and install a couple more windows. You can bet I'll be going to
a real lumber yard and buying kiln-dried Douglas Fir studs and headers. That
wet sub-species crap at the Borg will twist and turn like a stick of red
licorice as it cures.

No doubt. According to the forest-products trade association stuff I
found, there IS a stamp for Douglas fir, though - the letters 'DF'
inside a triangle. Just didn't see any the other night. Short of
sending a swatch to the local forestry lab, knowing what the markings
mean is likely to get you better results than asking a guy in an
apron.Oh, But last week he was probably helping customers

by asking--You want fries with that ,sir ???

"Rich S." wrote in message ...

The wood you find at the Borg* may have the word "Fir" but you will notice
the absence of the modifier "Douglas".

Much to my surprise about six months ago in Pasadena CA or therabouts
I found some bords at the borg (aka Home Depot) that were stamped
by HD 'Green Fir' and 'Doug Fir' in another place by the supplier.
They were in fact green Douglas Fir.

It just goes to show you that it isn;t only the guys working retail
at HD who don;t know wood.

Douglas Fir is not fir. It is not even the same genus as fir. It
more closely resembles Larch and can be grouped by the American Software
Lumber Association with Larch in terms of properties but it isn't a
Larch either. Doug Fir is its own genus.

Anyhow, for structural lumber the common species groups in ascending
order by tensile strength are SPF (spruce or pine or fir) Hem-Fir
(Hemlock or Fir), Doug Fir or Larch, and Southern Yellow Pine.

Doug Fir and Southern Yellow Pine are about equal in strength and
stiffness, SYP is denser.


I'm about the open up a wall in my
living room and install a couple more windows. You can bet I'll be going to
a real lumber yard and buying kiln-dried Douglas Fir studs and headers. That
wet sub-species crap at the Borg will twist and turn like a stick of red
licorice as it cures.


Doug Fir supposedly has the unique property of maintaining dimensional
stability as it dries. I suspect that property was observed in the
Old growth wood and question if it it is still true for the plantation
grown stuff.

If I build an aircraft, you can be damn sure that I'll be getting my
wood from a bona-fide lumber dealer or direct from a sawyer and not
from a home center.

--


FF

Fred the Red Shirt wrote:

: If I build an aircraft, you can be damn sure that I'll be getting my
: wood from a bona-fide lumber dealer or direct from a sawyer and not
: from a home center.

If you get it from a sawyer, you are buying green wood (I suspect
you know that). So stack the flitches and sticker them and let them
air dry. Then rough out the stock, bring it into the shop and let
it air dry for a week. Then work it to final dimension.


--- Gregg

My woodworking projects:


Replicas of 15th-19th century nautical navigational instruments:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/backstaffhome.html

Restoration of my 82 year old Herreshoff S-Boat sailboat:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/SBOATrestore.htm

Steambending FAQ with photos:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/Steambend.htm


"Improvise, adapt, overcome."

Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Phone: (617) 496-1558

Gregg Germain wrote in message ...
Fred the Red Shirt wrote:

: If I build an aircraft, you can be damn sure that I'll be getting my
: wood from a bona-fide lumber dealer or direct from a sawyer and not
: from a home center.

If you get it from a sawyer, you are buying green wood (I suspect
you know that).

Some sawyers have kilns. One I know in Southern MD has a Solar kiln.


So stack the flitches and sticker them and let them
air dry.

The rule of thumb is one year for each inch of thickness of the stock.

Then rough out the stock, bring it into the shop and let
it air dry for a week. Then work it to final dimension.

--

FF

(Corrie) wrote in message . com...
Quite right, I'm not so foolish as to trust my life to a stick I
haven't looked at *closely*. "The stamp isn't load-bearing" - good
point. But the stamp is at least a starting place. And unless you
own a timber stand in the pacific Northwest (or know someone who
does), you have to buy the wood from somewhere. Hence my
(still-unanswered) question about PLC.


Honestly, I never heard of them before. I suggest you ask over on
rec.woodworking, and maybe over on the lutherie (stringed musical
instrument making) group--rec.crafts.something or another.

--

FF

(Fred the Red Shirt) wrote in message om...

Honestly, I never heard of them before. I suggest you ask over on
rec.woodworking, and maybe over on the lutherie (stringed musical
instrument making) group--rec.crafts.something or another.

Good idea. Thanks.