Cody Colston
05-18-2016, 7:06 PM
I realize that different folks have different names for things and it's certainly true for those of us who work with wood. I'm struck by the term "slab" as it's been used here in a couple of thread titles.
To me, as someone who saws lumber from logs (I don't call myself a sawyer yet), a slab is the outermost part of the log, one side rounded and usually with the bark still on, that is normally discarded to be burned, chipped or cut into firewood. I did recently see a post on another forum where ERC slabs were being edged for vertical fence boards. As a teenager growing up on a farm I used to get "slabs" from a local sawmill and use them for corral boards. They were Pine and didn't last long but they were free.
Thicker stock is a plank to me but I see it commonly referred to as a slab, especially in 12/4 or 16/4 thicknesses. I generally call 4/4 and thinner a board and anything thicker a plank.
Stock of any thickness that has two natural edges, I call a flitch. Often it is stacked in the same orientation it was in while still in log form...only with stickers between the layers. Sometimes the stack will include the slab cuts, too, so that it looks like an expanded log when viewed from the end.
Everybody confused now? :D I am just musing about the terminology so I hope no one is offended if they use different terms.
To me, as someone who saws lumber from logs (I don't call myself a sawyer yet), a slab is the outermost part of the log, one side rounded and usually with the bark still on, that is normally discarded to be burned, chipped or cut into firewood. I did recently see a post on another forum where ERC slabs were being edged for vertical fence boards. As a teenager growing up on a farm I used to get "slabs" from a local sawmill and use them for corral boards. They were Pine and didn't last long but they were free.
Thicker stock is a plank to me but I see it commonly referred to as a slab, especially in 12/4 or 16/4 thicknesses. I generally call 4/4 and thinner a board and anything thicker a plank.
Stock of any thickness that has two natural edges, I call a flitch. Often it is stacked in the same orientation it was in while still in log form...only with stickers between the layers. Sometimes the stack will include the slab cuts, too, so that it looks like an expanded log when viewed from the end.
Everybody confused now? :D I am just musing about the terminology so I hope no one is offended if they use different terms.