Replies

1. 
   joinerswork | Dec 25, 2009 07:03pm | #1

   Don,
   Not necessarily. I've
   Don,

   Not necessarily. I've had some dealers charge 4/4 prices for scant-sawn lumber by writing it off as "kiln shrinkage".

   On the other hand, some smaller mills here locally saw plump, as much as 1-1/8" and sell as 4/4.

   Then there is my buddy, who used to saw lumber with a crew as a demonstration at the local steam and gas show on an antique mill, belt driven by a steam engine. They billed themselves as the "Thick and Thin Lumber Company" --as in thick and thin-on the same board :-)

   Ray

1. 
   WillGeorge | Dec 26, 2009 12:18pm | #6

   Ray..

   at the local steam and gas show on an antique mill, belt driven by a steam engine......

   See: http://flash.unctv.org/woodwrightss/2900/wws_2907.html

   I loved it! Roy wandering around all them moving belts. Lol.. He tends to get distracted and always has cuts on his hands.

   Enjoy...

2. 
   billy5151 | Dec 25, 2009 07:45pm | #2

   My Amish mill that I've been
   My Amish mill that I've been dealing with for the last 30 years always cuts a little on the thick side. That is for rough cut not dressed or planed boards. That is what you are talking about right? They also,most of the time, give me extra to "make up" for checked or split ends or knots. If I want 500-1000 board feet of oak I always get an extra 30-40 feet,added on at no extra charge "just to be sure" Great group of people to work with. They have also made some special cuts at not very much of a premium. Like taper cut 26' beams 10"x10" on one end down to 4"or5" square on the other end.They also cut the main shaft of Goerge Washington's grist mill, 45"dia. octagonal 40' long, Now THAT was a piece of wood!

   Bill D.

3. 
   SgianDubh | Dec 26, 2009 06:18am | #3

   "seems likely a mill will cut 4/4 lumber slightly thicker to allow for shrinkage during drying."

   Reputable sawyers do Don, by about 10% to allow for shrinkage during drying. Maybe one day I'll introduce you to the mysteries of buying dried wood on the 'green tally' compared to buying it on the 'dry' tally. If you're buying wood in any quantity you need to know which tally your timber (lumber) merchant is selling it under. Slainte.

4. 
   aew | Dec 26, 2009 08:54am | #4

   The general standard is to rough cut about 3/8" over finished thickness. So a 4/4 board should measure at 1 1/8" off the mill. My experience is that you lose maybe 1/16" to drying but the rest of the margin allows for twist, cupping, etc. So the extra thickness isn't so much for shrinkage as the other normal drying characteristics.

5. 
   JeffHeath | Dec 26, 2009 09:09am | #5

   I mill my own logs, and also spend quite a bit of time participating in the sawmilling forum at http://www.forestryforum.com

   and I can tell you from experience that most sawyers add 1/8" to each scale. In fact, most of us have a scale on the mill that automatically adds 1/8" to 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 8/4, etc....After the drying process, you usually have between 1/16" and 3/32" of extra meat to play with.

   I can also confirm what joinerswork (Ray) is telling you, as well. Some mills try to squeak out every last 1/16" from every log, and don't add any for shrinkage. Around these parts, those guys don't last very long with the woodworkers. They'll mostly be selling to farmers for fences, and to the pallet manufacturers.

   I was in a pinch 5 years ago and had to buy 300 board feet of cherry from another source because the 2000 bf I had drying in my wood shed was no where near ready. I bought 200 bf of 4/4, and 100 bf of 5/4. The 4/4 stuff was 7/8" thick, and I could hardly use the stuff to get 3/4", let alone the 7/8" that I need for cabinets.

   I never bought from him again, and apparently, nobody else did either, as he was out of business about a year later.

   Jeff

6. 
   DonStephan | Dec 26, 2009 08:45pm | #7

   Thanks everyone for your responses. Generally I find rough lumber to be at or slightly thicker than the stated thickness, so I assumed it had to be cut just a bit "fat." Never heard of green tally, though. Hope all well.

1. 
   DHAM | Dec 30, 2009 08:26am | #8

   For 4/4 on my woodmizer, I saw at 1 1/16" rough. The mills is so accurate that this leaves plenty of thickness for planing to 3/4", and 90% or more of the boards will plane both sides clean to 7/8".

   The issue comes when a mill cannot saw to consistent tolerances, so extra thickness is added to compensate for this slop. The best thing is to have the mill tuned properly and cut the wood to a consistent thickness that is predictable rather that arbitrarily add thickness to overcome poor set-up and operation. That causes people to think that thicker is better, however, in my experience, consistency in thickness really saves time in processing rough lumber into finished lumber.

   We just sawed some awesome quartersawn white oak with the widest boards over 27". Because of the value of the quartersawn white oak, we sawed to 1 1/8" for 4/4 and 2 3/8" for the 8/4.