Where Can I Buy Rough Cut Lumber Near Me

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one. Start out thick

Rough lumber thicknesses are measured in 1/4-in. increments. The thinnest crude-cut boards, labeled 4/4, and called four quarter, are ane-in. thick. It's tough to get surfaced stock thicker than 13/16-in. from 1-in. rough stock.

Plan to lose 3/16-in. (1/4-in.on thicker stock) when you plane a roughsawn board polish. Hardwood lumberyards unremarkably stock species in 4/4 and 8/4 thicknesses, with additional sizes available based on supply and demand.

two. Be prepared

Accept a record mensurate and estimator with you when y'all go to the lumberyard so you can measure the boards you choose and figure out how much they'll cost. Because roughsawn boards come in random widths and lengths (no two are alike) they're measured by volume, which tin be calculated by using a elementary formula. The standard unit, a lath foot (bd. ft.), measures 12-in. x 12-in. x i-in.-thick, or 144 cubic inches.

Because bd. ft. is a mensurate of volume, any combination of thickness (minimum i in.), width and length that equals 144 cubic inches also equals i bd. ft.

Crude lumber is sold based on its cost per bd. ft. Some species are more pricey than others, and thicker boards price more per bd. ft. than sparse ones. To determine toll, simply multiply the full number of bd. ft. in the boards you lot've selected past the bd. ft. toll.

3. Purchase long

Don't look to get an 8-ft. length out of an viii-ft. rough board. Even though roughsawn boards are regularly cut a couple of inches long, they usually contain checks, knots or wild grain that must be cut off. If you need finished 8-ft. lengths, you'll probably have to buy 9- or even 10-ft.- long boards.

4. Check out No. 1 Common

No. 1 Common (1C) lumber is ever worth considering. It sits only ane notch below Selects and Better (Due south/B), the best course most lumberyards carry, but costs upward to twoscore percent less.

In general, 1C grade has more defects,and boards usually contain more waste. This reduces its cost advantage somewhat. On the other paw, some 1C boards are perfect, simply as well narrow or short to make Due south/B class. In fact, at that place's a big gray area between the low end of S/B lumber and the top end of 1C lumber. It's non hard to find 1C boards that look just as good, if non better, than S/B boards. Buying 1C lumber is a great mode to stretch your woodworking dollars.

v. Summit-grade boards aren't e'er pretty

Spectacular boards cost no more than ordinary ones, considering lumber grades depend on yield, non aesthetics. The presence of off-color sapwood and funny-looking effigy isn't a gene. The four boards at left all came from the same top-grade stack. In the eyes of the grader, the trio of slender boards is identical to the single broad one, because they contain the same amount of usable material. Iii boards or one, they'll cost the same. How would you spend your money?

6. Buy more than than plenty

Information technology's a big fault to buy the exact amount of woods your project requires. If yous do, you're gonna come up brusque, because crude lumber isn't perfect, not even top-form boards.

A common rule of thumb is to purchase 15 to twenty percent more than you need. Some species, like ruddy oak, consistently comprise few defects, so you don't have to over-buy equally much. Other species, similar blackness walnut, require more insurance than the average.

I unremarkably don't bother with percentages, I just buy extra pieces. For example, if I'thou going to build a tabular array, I'll choose plenty stock to brand an extra leg. If the height requires seven boards, I'll buy eight.

Watch: Milling Your Own Lumber Series

vii. Look for striking-and-miss

The landscape at the lumberyard is irresolute because stock surfaced hit-and-miss (H/Grand) is becoming common, and may eventually replace rough lumber altogether.

H/M planing skins the board's rough surfaces.This makes choosing practiced-looking boards easier because you can see what they await like, without having to judge.

Even though I've been buying rough lumber for years, I nevertheless get fooled. It'southward just plain hard to come across the figure pattern and color in a roughsawn board. H/Grand planing keeps y'all from ownership ugly boards. H/M boards are besides easier on your tools, because the rough top layer, which often contains dirt and other junk, has been removed.

Here's the bad news. First, you've got less thickness to work with. H/M-surfaced boards are ane/16-in. thinner than the rough thickness (4/4 H/K stock is 15/16-in. thick). Second, H/M boards all the same need to be finish-planed. Their surfaces are fibroid and normally contain portions that are still rough (hence the name). And 3rd, H/Grand planing doesn't flatten warped boards.

8. Tame warped lumber

Common sense tells yous to choose flat boards and avoid the pretzels. Unfortunately, apartment roughsawn boards are sometimes hard to detect. Lots of boards end up warped as a consequence of the drying process. In lumber lingo, warp is defined every bit any deflection from a apartment, planar surface. Warped boards can be cupped, bowed, crooked or twisted. A unmarried board tin incorporate a combination of warps. Luckily, most warped boards tin be flattened, if the deflection isn't as well severe. Knowing how to identify and deal with boards that aren't perfectly flat volition give you many more than choices as y'all wait through the stack.

9. Cup

A lath that bends beyond the width of its face up is cupped. Cupping, which occurs mainly in plainsawn lumber, affects a board's finished thickness.

Boards that are slightly cupped are like shooting fish in a barrel to flatten. Joint them with the concave side down. This keeps both outside edges in contact with the jointer'southward bed, for stability. To flatten a severely cupped board without sacrificing its thickness, rip information technology in half and joint both pieces separately. Don't rip a cupped board on your tabular array saw, even so. It's too probable to cause a kickback. Utilise a bandsaw, circular saw or jigsaw. Glue the pieces back together, later jointing their mating edges. And then brand a final smoothing pass on the glued-up confront.

Check for cup by looking at the end of the board.

10. Bow

A board that bends across the length of its confront is bowed. You'll lose length when yous flatten bowed boards, because you take to remove more from the ends than the center. Articulation with the bowed side down, and don't press the lath apartment confronting the jointer bed. The only way to deal with a board with a pronounced bow is to cut information technology into shorter lengths. The brusque pieces will still bow, but not as much, and so they'll be easier to flatten. If the bow is confined to 1 end of the board, cut it off or make repeated jointing passes on that end only.

Bow is like shooting fish in a barrel to run into when yous sight downwardly the border of the lath.

11. Crook

A board that bends along its length is crooked. Straightening a crooked board reduces its width. Boards with a small-scale crook are mutual. They tin be straightened by jointing and/or ripping. (Once again, don't rip a crooked board on the tabular array saw without a sled to concord information technology; kickback is too likely.) Jointing or ripping won't piece of work on a board with a major crook—you'd stop upwards with nothing. Instead, cut the board into short pieces.

12. Twist

A board with one high corner has twist. Information technology's best to let twisted boards be someone else's nightmare. They're hard to flatten, and even if you're successful, the twist has a tendency to return. If you must apply a twisted board, cut it as short as possible, to minimize the deflection.

Sight down the face of a board. If the reverse ends aren't parallel, information technology's twisted. Put it back.

13. Riftsawn blank for legs

For table legs, choose a riftsawn blank; one on which the end grain runs diagonally. Because the bare is riftsawn, all four faces of each leg volition exhibit the same straight-grained figure pattern. Wait for a blank that'due south slightly more than twice as wide and slightly more than than twice as long as one leg, so you can get all four legs from the same piece.

fourteen. Take reward of milling services

Rough lumber is rarely flat or straight. Milling your ain is backbreaking work, takes forever and produces gobs of sawdust.

Why non let the lumberyard do information technology for you? Most yards volition rip one edge of a rough board straight (called SL/E, straight-line edge), plane both faces (S2S, surfaced 2 sides), or mill both faces and edges (S4S, surfaced 4 sides). In addition to a setup fee of $fifteen to $45, the cost ranges from about xv to thirty cents per bd. ft., depending on which type of milling y'all choose. It's not worth the expense to have only a few boards milled—for small amounts, information technology's ordinarily cheaper to head straight to the thou'south inventory of surfaced lumber. The set-upwardly fee usually gets waived for large milling jobs, over 150 bd.ft., for instance. Cheque with your yard for specific costs and minimum amounts.

A direct-line border cut (SL/E) made at the lumberyard makes ripping and crosscutting at habitation safer because it gives you a straight side to piece of work from. It besides saves you the frustration of trying to articulation a long lath on a small jointer.

15. Beware of ovals

An oval figure pattern on the board's surface signals a change in grain direction that may cause significant tear-out. You'll be planing with the grain on 1 side of the oval, simply going against it on the other, so there'southward gonna exist trouble.

Instead of sanding like mad to get rid of tear-out, employ a scraper or handplane. Bank check the border of the board to come across how and where the grain changes, then shine the oval by working from opposite directions, following the grain.

16. Edges reveal the curl

Spectacular figure may be hidden past a board'southward roughsawn surface. If you suspect a board contains curly figure, look at its edges for closely spaced calorie-free- and dark-colored stripes. Pronounced stripes indicate heavy figure. You can check an unabridged stack of boards for figured ones just past looking at the stack from the side.

17. Resawing saves coin and material

Even though thicker wood costs more than, yous can save coin by using information technology finer. Say you demand two i/2-in.-thick panels. Instead of milling two pieces of 4/4 stock, and wasting almost one-half of each board, resaw a pair of panels from a single slice of 6/iv. Besides, resawing produces bookmatched pieces that can make a great-looking pair of doors.

eighteen. Do-it-yourself butcherblock

Butcherblock tops are best made from quartersawn wood, so they don't expand and contract as much. Instead of buying or searching out quartersawn wood, only buy plainsawn. After milling your boards smoothen on peak and bottom, rip them in half and rotate both pieces 90 degrees.

19. Be fussy about color

One off-colour board can ruin the advent of an entire projection. Trust me, that dark (or low-cal) board will problems you every fourth dimension you see information technology! Yous can usually tell when boards don't match, even in the rough. Stand them alongside one another in good natural light, and then y'all can compare.

This story originally appeared in American Woodworker Magazine, October 2001, issue #89.

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Source: https://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/19-tips-for-buying-and-using-rough-lumber/