"People underestimate their capacity for change.  There is never a right time to do a difficult thing."    

                   John Porter

The beauty of real wood lies in its “natural” ability to be many things to many people.  The ability of wood to offer infinite hues, varied patterns and subtle variations is most desirable.  Relying only on “clear” and near-clear grades of wood is limiting, and woodworkers, designers and architects could be short-changing themselves and their clients. Pin knots, wormholes (toredo worms), mineral streaks, and grain variation (wild and woolly) occur to some degree with all trees; live edges may appear on sawn planks.  Too often these “character markings” are treated as defects and are under appreciated.  By utilizing our forests in a manner that does not reflect its natural balance, we have effectively shot ourselves in the foot, commercially and environmentally.  Know what you need; get what you want.  Lumber grades can offer you some guidelines to help you understand what you need.  

HARDWOOD LUMBER:
Prior to 1897, individual mills had their own grading systems for local markets.  In 1897, the National Hardwood Lumber Association (www.nhla.com) was established to regulate lumber grading and wrote standard grades for hardwood lumber to be used in Canada and the US, and are now generally accepted internationally.  Primarily these rules were based on the number and size of defects.   Changes in the early 1930’s changed the grading criteria to the amount and size of clear cuttings.  Although minor modifications occur, the rules have been relatively stable since then. The rules were written with the volume user in mind, and are full of exceptions based on individual species.  They appear complicated but generally they are strictly mathematical and quantitative.  I have provided a very abbreviated overview of the NHLA rules.  They are not intended to teach someone how to actually grade lumber.  An NHLA Grading book is a valuable tool to better understand the intricacies of the grades. 

SOFTWOOD LUMBER:
Wood has served as a structural material since the distant ages of King Solomon’s temple.  Standardized lumber came into use in the 19^th century, as the call for cheap and modern house framing increased with the population explosion of the Industrial Revolution. 

Unlike hardwood lumber, softwood lumber grades generally reflect the strength and load carrying capacity and safety; particularly with the construction industry in mind.  Softwood lumber is most commonly graded in accordance to guidelines of the American Softwood Lumber Standard (ALSC) PS 20-70; the current edition is PS 20-99.  The ALSC serves as the standing committee for this document. The guidelines were developed in accordance with the Procedures for the Development of Voluntary Product Standards of the U.S. Department of Commerce through a consensus process.  These guidelines can be viewed at: http://www.alsc.org/greenbook%20collection/ps20.pdf. 

The names of grades are actually an option and thus not standardized, but at West Wind Hardwood, we are primarily concerned with appearance grade lumber.  Boards in this category will mostly be used for quality furniture and flooring, boat and airplane construction.  The highest grade of appearance lumber is Finish, which is then subdivided into grades composed of letters (B&BTR, C, D) or names as Superior or Prime.  The next level down is Selects with designations of B&BTR, C Select, and D Select.  To complicate the issue, differences exist for different wood species, such as heartwood, sapwood, and clear all heart or free of heart (FOH), flat grain (FG), vertical grain (VG) or mixed grain (MG) and S4S (surfaced four sides).   Moisture content and rings per inch play a valuable role when selecting for spar grade or musical instruments.  Generally speaking most woodworkers will encounter the four grades of Select.  These two grades are generally designated as Select & Better.

Looking Beyond Wood Grades– taken from “The Art of Buying Lumber” with permission by Dick Burrows. 

The question of lumber grades can be confusing, so it's best not to get too hung up on them when picking stock. Grades give you an indication of the number of defects in a board, not the board's total quality.

Instead of grade, concentrate on the yield, which tells you the grader's estimate of how much clear wood a board contains. Select grades offer a yield of 83 percent or better clear stock. A No. I common board yields 66 to 83 percent clear stock, and No. 2 common yields 50 to 66 percent, usually in lengths that are still adequate for small projects. Another common-grade term is log run, which basically means the whole cut-up tree as it comes from the mill. "It's mostly No. 2 common or better. About 20 percent will be select, " Wall says.

But, how do you figure the amount of wood you need when you have to work around all those knots? The easiest thing to do is buy 20 to 25 percent more wood than you think you'll actually need. "Working wood is not like slicing loaf bread," says Hil Peel, manager of Wall's lumberyard. Waste is inevitable even if the board is free of defects because you lose to saw kerfs, jointing, and other milling operations. Don't underestimate the waste from kerfs; some carbide blades take nearly 1/4 in. per pass.

And, stay away from the elaborate cutting diagrams sometimes found in project articles. These diagrams are supposed to show you how to cut lots of little parts out of a board, but they can become very restrictive. Peel tells of one woodworker who spent hours making four pages of diagrams and then had to spend another couple of hours searching for boards to fit the diagrams. "I think it's better to buy about 100 bd. ft. and get the stock you need without worrying about cutting diagrams," Peel advises. "Plus, if you buy at least 100 bd. ft., you usually get a quantity discount and can use what's left on the next project." 

There are more than 23,000 different species of trees found on our planet Earth.  Because of the many different species of hardwoods and softwoods, time and space does not allow for anything other than generalities.  Remember, whichever the species, grade or condition of the wood you are working with, it is a resource that should be valued and treasured.