BORG Wood desirability

[David Ragan]

Could you all please rank the species usually available in dimensional lumber from BORG?

As I am making the Abbott Shavehorse this AM, I have 'regular' 2x4 (stamped SPF), then some 2x12 I bought, and ripped down the center in order to get QS---I think this is how I'm going to do it from now on.

The QS boards ripped from the 2x12 seemed to be heavier and tighter grain, maybe SYP?

So, SYP is best, DF is below that-what else is there?

Anybody just know those stamps off top of yer head?

[Tony Zaffuto]

My experience with borg wood in Central PA has been from poor to semi-good. The blue big box store where I go, seems to have wood supplied by multiple companies, and the lumber varies. For example, checking width on 1" X 8"s last week, had some as narrow as 7-1/4", some at 7-1/2" and some in between. I did not find a single board 8' long, with most about 1/2" shy, though I paid for 8'.

If you are purchasing better lumber such as white pine, poplar or red oak (only better species available), the lumber is all plain sawn, though if you're lucky and search long enough, you might find a piece rift sawn. I can order from Grof Lumber/Quarryville, PA, and pay less for quality lumber, including the delivery costs.

So, I'm not exactly answering your question (yet), but I would suggest you find a "mom & pop" lumberyard to buy your needs. You may pay a bit more, but you'll get what you pay for and they will explain to you what you are getting. In Central PA, SYP is "southern yellow pine" and DF is "douglas fir". What you buy will depend upon use. I will add there are many here very knowledgeable that may add or correct what I have written, and if they do, no offense is taken!

[Mike Gresham]

I was told years ago at a lumberyard that SPF meant spruce-pine-fir. Basically, whatever they found in the forest that day.

[Lonnie Gallaher]

When construction lumber is talked about, the dimensions are different based on the nominal widths. A 1x6 and below will be 1/2 inch less than the nominal width. The 8 by's and larger will be 3/4 inch less that the nominal width. Of course they can vary based on moisture content. In the larger sizes I do see the kind of variations Tony is mentioning.

[Matt Day]

Rank? Okay, all of it is the last resort for anything but construction. Price per bdft of their "furniture" grade lumber is ludicrous considering the quality.

Their best plywood (HD, Columbia Forest Products) is acceptable IMO.

[David Ragan]

What I meant was, that as I was processing that wood today, the 2x12 was a different species than the 2x4. I guess there is not really much of a choice on a Sunday afternoon-can't go the mom and pop lumber yard.

So you just have to inspect every single piece of good-for-nothing-except-hidden-behind-a-wall lumber that BORG has. Beyond that, probably doesn't make much of a difference.

Yes, I remember now SPF. Salvaged Professionally in a Forest?

[Paul Hinds]

My experience with buying (and just looking) at Lowes is that all of their stuff (pine, red oak, poplar, cherry, aspen, etc) is excellent quality but massivly overpriced.

[Myk Rian]

The 2x4s are usually what they call "White wood". Whatever the heck that's supposed to be.

I've gotten a few nice pieces of quilted maple, but you really have to search every time you're there.

[Curt Harms]

The 2x4s are usually what they call "White wood". Whatever the heck that's supposed to be.
......................................


I sorta figured white wood = whatever softwood is cheapest at wholesale that day. Spruce/pine/Fir/hemlock/godknows.

[Matt Day]

all of their stuff (pine, red oak, poplar, cherry, aspen, etc) is excellent quality.

We must have different standards or you have much better stores around you. The stuff I see that is supposed to be S4S is far from flat and straight for anything close to furniture quality.

That being said, i do recall a Borg where I used to live in Salt Lake City that had guys in the lumber dept that really cared about lumber storage and quality and it showed.

[Yonak Hawkins]

...So you just have to inspect every single piece....

Please don't do this unless you re-stack it when you're done. You're not inconveniencing the store employees, only the next customers. I hate it when I go to get some lumber and it's a jumbled pile.

It is supposed to be construction lumber not furniture-making lumber.

[David Ragan]

Please don't do this unless you re-stack it when you're done. You're not inconveniencing the store employees, only the next customers. I hate it when I go to get some lumber and it's a jumbled pile.

It is supposed to be construction lumber not furniture-making lumber.

Well, that was an overstatement. I don't inspect every piece.

And yes, I am not a saint, but don't make some mess for the next person to deal with.

Last summer when I went to a real lumber yard and bought 100bf of cherry, yes, I went through half a pallet. I should have just paid the $10 restacking fee, though. what a pain. It was there I learned how to properly stack lumber back onto a pallet. From the edges, right?:)

[Roy Harding]

"The Borg" is a great place to get construction grade lumber.

Period.

Full stop.

[David Ragan]

Could you all please rank the species usually available in dimensional lumber from BORG?

So, SYP is best, DF is below that-what else is there?


Gee, guys I know it aint for furniture, OK?

Lets pretend that I am @ BORG, and there are available a variety of different construction-grade lumber species.

Someone mentioned the SPF stamp (Spruce/Pine/Fir) in addition to SYP and DF.

How to decide which species (via the stamp) for a particular use? For construction:)

Thank you and good night

[Peter Quinn]

The soft wood manufacturers association and their engineers have a pretty specific set of categories for the different grades of lumber, each one has its own associated span charts which are important when framing a building, not so important for building a shave horse. SPF is a combination grade that can include a lot of things, and while fir is in the name DF is almost never one of the species marked SPF. I'd say a good piece of DF is equal to a good piece of SYP, but regionally what is available may vary by species, and certain sizes are only available in a #1 common structural grade. Take 2x12, that's a serious framing member for rafters and long span joists, maybe stair stringers, they don't stock that in SPF which has much less span rating. Add engineered products into the mix, no telling what you may find locally.

Aside from all that, if you are looking for good material in framing lumber I think you are on the right track, rip down wider material that is generally of a higher quality to begin with and has less knots to cut around.

[David Ragan]

The soft wood manufacturers association and their engineers have a pretty specific set of categories for the different grades of lumber, each one has its own associated span charts which are important when framing a building, not so important for building a shave horse. SPF is a combination grade that can include a lot of things, and while fir is in the name DF is almost never one of the species marked SPF. I'd say a good piece of DF is equal to a good piece of SYP, but regionally what is available may vary by species, and certain sizes are only available in a #1 common structural grade. Take 2x12, that's a serious framing member for rafters and long span joists, maybe stair stringers, they don't stock that in SPF which has much less span rating. Add engineered products into the mix, no telling what you may find locally.

Aside from all that, if you are looking for good material in framing lumber I think you are on the right track, rip down wider material that is generally of a higher quality to begin with and has less knots to cut around.

Thanks so much Peter, that and the other answers is exactly what I was looking for.

[lowell holmes]

The legs on my workbench are doug fir 4X4's from Home Depot. They are straight and stable.

[Steve Collins]

Please don't do this unless you re-stack it when you're done. You're not inconveniencing the store employees, only the next customers. I hate it when I go to get some lumber and it's a jumbled pile.

It is supposed to be construction lumber not furniture-making lumber.

...and a certain % of it can't even be used for construction lumber. I've been picking through lumber my whole life either at a store or a stack delivered to a job site. The unusable lumber on the job site is placed in a stack and is picked up by the lumber yard and I'm given credit for it. At the store I pick through the lumber and restack, unless the board is so warped up that it has no useable function even on a construction site. This gets layed in the floor next to the stack so that the store can get credit from their supplier. The way I figure it is that by picking through the lumber I'm actually doing the store a favor by culling out the crap that their supplier tried to stick them with.

[glenn bradley]

Gee, guys I know it aint for furniture, OK?

I think the overall negative tone is probably from folks like me. I tried to save some money by using BORG KD Doug-Fir for parts of my bench. I would have actually saved money going to the lumber yard and buying properly processed poplar instead; the waste factor on the BORG wood was so high. I am currently building a new bench. The base is poplar and indeed cost less than I wasted on BORG wood years ago. ;-)

That being said, another member had good success here (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?232256-Bench-Progress-Pics).

[Tom M King]

If you are looking for decent Yellow Pine, find some Weyerhauser Framer series. It's graded out better than stuff you find in big box stores, and if you pick through it, it's easy to get all clear. It costs some more than YP you find in the tight racks in the box stores, but worth it to me not to have to pick through those racks. I used to buy clear boards from Lowes and HD when I saw some on top of the stacks when we were in there buying something else, and save them for later use. Now I just go to Probuild and the Framer series stacks that I can pull my trailer up beside.