Ordering Wood for Projects
It’s always interesting to see what kind of raw lumber is available on the local forums. People have a weird sense of value when it relates to green lumber. a few things to understand before purchasing any lumber for woodworking projects.
Moisture content can be the most important value to consider when looking at lumber available from local mills, sawyers or vendors. Moisture loss does crazy things to wood grain. This in turn results in cupping, warping, twisting or cracking. 6-10% is acceptable and can only be known by testing. If a seller will not let you test for moisture it’s not worth buying. Moisture should be checked inside the wood at least 2” from the edge.
Dimension loss during the finishing process will remove a significant amount of total bd ft. A loss of 1/8” per side is nominal for most lumber. This removes lumps, slight imperfections etc from the surface. If there is cupping or twisting there could be even more lost thickness. I estimate an extra 20% for all dimension to account for cracking, twisting etc to end up with a sellable product.
The milling process used makes a huge difference in how stable a piece of wood will be in the long run. Live, quarter, rift, or plain are common examples of mill process used. In addition to the stability of a piece of lumber the process used can make a big difference in the wood texture and chatoyance.
Take these all into consideration the next time you have a woodworking project and enjoy the best quality result.
