ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WOOD

GRADING LUMBER

umber grading is a way of evaluating the surface quality of a board accord­ing to certain standards, taking into account factors such as the number, size and degree of defects in the wood. The goal is to ensure that woodworkers get what they pay for; a board of a certain grade of wood bought in Maine will closely resemble a similar-grade board purchased in New Mexico.

At first glance, the rules of grading may seem arbitrary. For starters, the standards are different for softwoods and hardwoods, the result of the end use of each type of wood. Softwoods are pri­marily used in construction, so a grad­er may assume that a softwood board will be used as is, with no further sur­facing. Hardwood boards, on the other hand, are almost always planed, cross­cut and ripped into smaller pieces to fit
a particular piece of furniture. Added to that is the fact that, while there is one standard for hardwoods, softwoods are further divided into separate groups and graded according to rules established by different organizations.

Taking the time to become familiar with hardwood and softwood grading will pay dividends. A sound under­standing of the grading system enables you to select the most appropriate board for the job at hand; it can also save you money. There is no need, for example, to order long planks of top-grade FAS (or Firsts and Seconds) lumber if most of the pieces of the cabinet you intend to build are only three or four feet long. You would probably be better off buy­ing No. 1 Common, which is consider­ably cheaper, and will be adequate once you have cut out the defects.

Lumber producers and vendors have long found it advantageous to study wood types and set rules for grading to guarantee a uniform product. One of the earliest instances of grading occurred in 1764, when Sven Aversdon of Stock­holm divided Swedish pine into four cat­egories—best, good, common and culls. During the 18th Century, appearance was the primary criterion for grading wood, but as knowledge of wood prop­erties increased, standards changed to include strength and the amount of clear or usable wood in each board.

The best way to become familiar with grades is to visit a lumberyard and exam­ine stock firsthand. Get to know how a hardwood grade like FAS differs from No. 1 Common. And when you Select lumber, try to picture how each part can be cut out of a board with the least waste.

HARDWOOD LUMBER GRADER’S EVALUATION OF A TYPICAL BOARD