quartersawn fir

[dustin wassner]

I need to buy quartersawn fir. I am currently buying roughly 30-40 2x4x10's per month from lowes, but picking through their selection for quartersawn or 'close to quartersawn' is very time consuming.

I am guessing most people don't think of sourcing such a low-grade material in a quarter sawn (perhaps more correctly called 'vertical grain'), but if anyone can suggest a way to source it, it would be very much appreciated.

The stain I use does very well with this material, and the cost is great, so I would like to avoid switching.

thank you

[Mel Fulks]

Can't help with a source. But if you have to order it I would make sure the order shows you will not accept "hem- fir".

[Dan Friedrichs]

Sounds like you want CVG fir (Clear Vertical Grain)? That's not an uncommon product, and you should be able to find it. Maybe the nomenclature (qs vs CVG) is what's causing the problem.

[Kevin Jenness]

I don't think of CVG fir as a low grade material, but if you are currently buying big box framing lumber maybe that is what you need . What are you producing?

[Andrew Hughes]

I would think a lumber yard could source some for you. It’s expensive so be ready for that. The stuff at the borg will weep pitch in the summer when it gets hot so keep that in mind.
If you order from a lumber yard kiln dried is the way to go. I use to have a good source for rough sawn fir and took pleasure in jointing and planing.
The smell is like nothing else on earth.
Good Luck

[liam c murphy]

In my area, it’s easier to find CVG Doug Fir at high end “building supply” houses than at hardwood dealers. Hardwood dealers might be able to get it as well. Depending on the quantity you need, you might be able to resaw 4x4 posts. The box with finger joints below was built with CVG Fir that I bought. The box with mitered corners was made from a resawn 4x4.

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[dustin wassner]

thanks everyone. Another point I did not mention, I have found at Lowes that when I purchased the highest grade 2x4x8's, they were very red and did not stain consistently. However, the 2x4x10's are always very white wood, and it is this material that I am after. I am not sure if this is hem fir or doug fir, but this white material is what I am in need of in a vertical grain/quarter sawn cut. Can anyone here shed light on the difference between the 8ft and 10ft length species? thank you very much.

[Jim Becker]

I buy VG-D-fir from my local full-service lumber yard. They don't stock it, but generally have it for me in one or two days. I don't think it's good to characterize this as "low-grade", either...it's premium material with a nearly $8.00 a board foot "contractor" price for 8/4 materail. ;) I buy via Wehrung's Specialty Woods in Ottsville, PA, but there should be someone in your geography that can get it for you. Stay away from the mass marketers...you need a "real" material supplier for this stuff as it's all brought in from "out west/north".

[Charles Lent]

If you buy 2 X 10 and rip 2 X 4 out of each edge, discarding the center pith area, you will end up with the grain that you are looking for. Not really quarter sawn, but close. I have done this when I couldn't find what I needed.

Charley

[Bob Falk]

Dustin,
I have been thinking of thinning out my stash of old growth VG DF. I have old bleacher seats (bolt holes about every 4') so depending on the lengths widths you need.....it is gorgeous. Also have thicker (2" plus) VG DF timbers. PM me if interested.

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[kent borcherding]

Bob - sent you a pm.

[Steve Jenkins]

thanks everyone. Another point I did not mention, I have found at Lowes that when I purchased the highest grade 2x4x8's, they were very red and did not stain consistently. However, the 2x4x10's are always very white wood, and it is this material that I am after. I am not sure if this is hem fir or doug fir, but this white material is what I am in need of in a vertical grain/quarter sawn cut. Can anyone here shed light on the difference between the 8ft and 10ft length species? thank you very much.
If you are trying to match the white wood I’d bet it is spruce not fir

[Brian Holcombe]

You're not far from Boro in North Jersey, they have it. They're a commercial supplier so they invoice/pull stock based on the quantity and grade. That said, I find them very easy to work with.

[Frank Pratt]

(perhaps more correctly called 'vertical grain')

I don't know where that dumb term came from, but the only time the grain is vertical is when the board is standing on end. I've never seen it used with any other species of wood. So no, there's nothing 'correct' about it.

[Jared Sankovich]

The stain I use does very well with this material, and the cost is great, so I would like to avoid switching.

thank you

If you are looking for non construction lumber grade, expect to pay closer to 8/bd ft.

Or about $35 per 2x4x10

[jerry cousins]

i don't know about the difference between the 8" & 10" - but likely the lighter material is white fir - not as dense as doug fir - so likely stains a bit easier. it's a pretty common species around here (pnw) logged for framing material
jerry

[Mel Fulks]

White fir is the same thing as "hem fir". Just looked it up, OK for indoor stuff. Not as good as real fir for outside use.
In comparing quotes make sure you pin the dealers to the facts. I've seen it sold as fir,that is why I made earlier warning.
Ive never used it in framing but I can see that it would be fine. In getting quotes for fir you will always get somebody
quoting the "hem-fir" ....by surname only.

[Joe Calhoon]

One of the best grades in CVG Fir is called 85/15. It will generally have less pitch pockets and tighter rings. That said I have seen a lot of variation in this material over the years. Good and bad.

[Ben Zara]

Condon Lumber in New York sells tons of clear vertical grain Doug fir. I bought an 18 foot long piece once there that I wanted to make a piece with lots of sequential matched panels.
I don't think this product is rare though, any decent lumber yard should sell this.

[kent wardecke]

I've picked through the pile of D-fir marked 2" x4"s at Lowe's looking for the tight parallel grain . I don't think it's rare it's a logistics thing .on the West coast they use D-fir like we use SYP here in the Eastern US.
Now the white wood marked SPF is a Canadian trademarked mix of spruce pine and fir and the largest I've seen is 2" x6"

[Mike Ontko]

Sounds like you want CVG fir (Clear Vertical Grain)? That's not an uncommon product, and you should be able to find it. Maybe the nomenclature (qs vs CVG) is what's causing the problem.

True that it's not an uncommon product but even here in the PNW where it's abundant (some places will refer to it specifically as CVG Douglas Fir), you'll still pay a premium per board foot.

[Tim Bueler]

White fir is the same thing as "hem fir".

It depends on what part of the NW US. In western WA, where I grew up, there is a lot of hemlock, graded as hem-fir. There is also a lot of douglas fir, graded as d-fir. Where I'm living now, N central Idaho, hemlock doesn't grow. The predominant framing lumber available to me here is DF/L, douglas fir and/or western larch, a.k.a. Tamarack. They also cut ponderosa pine here, known locally as "yellow pine". Local nomenclatures also include spruce, white pine (can't remember the commercial species name on those 2) and also "white fir" which comes from grand and noble firs. These later are generally sole under the grade S/P/F, for spruce, pine, fir.

True CVG douglas fir is more difficult to come by because of modern timber harvesting practices. When I was kid it wasn't unusual to see 2, 3 or 4 log loads going into the local mill. Those trees generated a LOT of beautiful, clear, tight grained lumber. Today they start docking you for anything larger than 18" (around here anyhow) and the loads I see going into the mill today, that get used for [absolutely deplorable] framing lumber, would've been hauled to the pulp mill. The d-fir I get still smells the same though and brings back memories of my granfather's dirt floor wood shop. It still finishes more red, but not as rich as some of the decades old planks I have laying around.

It all depends on what part of the country you're from as to what's available and the cost thereof. I recently paid more for a few pieces of CVG Fir than I did for a similar amount of QS Sapele.