Tips for picking out lumber!

The quality of lumber the last few years has been going downhill. Really have to look through it and find a good local lumber yard before starting a project

Guy who moves 212 pieces of lumber out of the way to select the 3 best ones

Now lumber shops will be more careful about this..😫

Lady shares Security tips, if women have to live alone.

25 years in the lumber manufacturing sector here…some of what she says is true, but mostly false. I’ll try to make this short because there’s a lot to unpack. 1. Center of the tree or “pith” cuts come from the “center stack” of the “cant”. Has nothing to do with splitting on the ends. Other natural and manufactured defects do such as over drying, cupping, stacking…even the process it goes thru in the mills when boards fall. 2. Tight Grain - she’s talking about how we measure density in the lumber. Yes, for southern yellow pine, density is measured by rings per inch. Measurement starting 1/4” away from the pith of the tree or where the pith would be located if the pith is not present. 6 rings per inch in the direction of the growth rings. However, if the “summer wood” or darker rings are 1/8” or thicker, you only need 3 rings per inch to be considered dense. The boards she pointed out that are desirable are from “flitches” or the side cuts of the log during the “canting” process. There are less of these boards due to where they come from in the mills process. Mills that produce MSR “mechanically stress rated” lumber will segregate these pieces for a more expensive piece and will not be in the general population of lumber on the rack at Home Depot / Lowe’s making those pieces even more rare. Other mills pull grades such as DSS “dense select structural” which require the above mentioned density rating but only on one end of the piece. Which means, pieces that look like that might not look like that on the other end. Which goes for the “pith” pieces as well. Trees do not grow straight so it’s very common to see the pith of the tree dip in and out of the pieces surrounding the center stack. That being said, there are a multitude of grades of lumber out there to choose from. Some are strength grades and some are visual grades. Depending on your application, do some research as to what grade you need. Look for moisture content of 12 to 19%, 19% being perfect. Anything more than that could start to grow mold if it’s 70 degrees outside or higher with a humidity level of 70% or higher (rule of 70 for incipient mold). Most of those splits were “season checks” and from the harsh environment the boards went thru during manufacturing which can be cut off if you don’t need that exact length of board. Splits are graded as well. For a #1, for example, the split can be equal to the width of the piece. Lots of factors or limitations are taken into account for the grading of each piece of lumber. Contact SPIB (Southern Pine Inspection Bureau) or TPI (Timber Products Inspection) for questions you may have concerning your lumber choices for certain applications. Hope this helps!

That’s a lot of work could you imagine picking out a whole house that way lol

Insanely good tip!

I need an expert analysis, @BrandonDonkey2, your take?

I’ll keep this in mind

when you put in your studs make sure the crown is the same or the wall will be wavy. 2x4's have a u shaped bend to them.. crown sticks out.