5/4 lumber

[Bruce King]

For those that buy 5/4 are you seeing these thicknesses before and after planing or did I just get lucky. 1 11/32 rough and 1 7/32 clean.

[Jared Sankovich]

I can usually net 1" from 4/4 and 1.25" from 5/4" depending on species. 5/4 Poplar and maple are usually a heavy 1&3/8" from my supplier.

[Matt Day]

Depends on your supplier/lumberyard/sawyer.

[Stewart Lang]

4/4 and 5/4 always end up at 3/4" and 1" respectively, for me. So if a board cleans up before that it doesn't make too much difference, as they all get brought down to those standard thicknesses.

[Mark Bolton]

Looks like your supplier saws a little on the plump side which is nice. Our material all comes in a shade over the grading rules. 5/4 should be 1 1/4" minimum rough but a lot of mills saw a little thick to make sure their material will definitely clean up to 1". 5/4 usually comes in right where your material is. 4/4 for us typically comes in rough at 1 3/16 minimum more like 1 1/4 across the board which is why I mentioned in another thread we can often get 5/4 out of our 4/4 material but its not a guarantee across the entire pack.

Nice you have a supplier that isnt leaving you with the bare minimum to work with.

[Bruce King]

I use it as thick as possible for tops. Some other pieces are re-sawed to end up with two 1/2 pieces clean.

[Mark Bolton]

I use it as thick as possible for tops. Some other pieces are re-sawed to end up with two 1/2 pieces clean.

For sure, But what you have to realize is the sawyer usually will saw to the worst pieces in the packs on average. So if they are sawing 5/4 it doesnt make sense to skimp on 3/32 here and there and wind up with a boat load of material that for whatever reason doesnt clean up to 5/4 and they just have to take it down to 4/4 (waste). So your more than likely on many boards going to get a full inch out of 4/4 material but your going to have a lot that dont make it. The jump there is no gain for 5/4 that cleans up early, its all got to come down to an inch for the mill,.. but its a gain for you.

Just dont rely on it because the next batch you get may barely get you clean.

[Scott T Smith]

There is a direct relation between the lumber width and the amount of surfacing required to clean it up. From an industry standard standpoint, when buying dry measure lumber expect to remove 1/8" per face to clean it up on most boards less than 8" wide.

Uber-wide stock usually requires more removal unless the lumber is extremely clear.

[Patrick Kane]

My 4/4 is typically 1-1/16” to 1-1/8” and depending on the length of my workpiece, I’m fortunate to get 7/8” finished thickness. I think it is a stretch to expect 1” finished thickness out of 4/4. That is great some guys get there, but you are setting yourself up for disappointment if you need 1” finished thickness on a 4-8’ piece and start with 4/4 rough. I expect 3/4”, 1”, and 1-3/4” out of 4/4, 5/4, and 8/4.

1-1/4” rough 4/4 is incredibly generous from the sawyer. Conversely, taking 1/16” pass from each face to 100% mill a board is astonishingly straight and true material.

[Brian Tymchak]

1-1/4” rough 4/4 is incredibly generous from the sawyer. Conversely, taking 1/16” pass from each face to 100% mill a board is astonishingly straight and true material.

My lumber mill has always cut at least 1/4" over. I occasionally find 3/8" over in the pile.

[Jim Becker]

Source rally does matter. As noted some sawyers are more generous/conservative than others when it comes to rough cut thickness. With a straight and true board that has minimal cupping, I've been able to squeeze more generous finished dimensions from time to time.

[Will Blick]

I assume none of the rough thicknesses, 4/4 5/4 6/4 are standardized?
It seems like, many yards I have gone in the last 20 yrs, seem to have different definitions of these thicknesses... ??

I have found some big yards that sell all their stock as S4S dimension pieces. Most are sold for shelving, 10 and 12" widths. Maple, cherry, Poplar, Walnut, and many other common hardwoods. Not every board is large enough to make the dimension shelving width. These smaller waste boards are also S4S, but greatly discounted, as their widths are not the common shelving standard sizes. So the boards that were too short in width, such as 4 - 9" get thrown into a "whatever" rack. The benefit is, these finished boards sell for less than half the price of the standard dimension S4S width boards. Still priced per board foot. Great for the craft ww, as you get finished wood at rough pricing. You can pick and choose the widths you need to reduce your waste.

[Warren Lake]

I like Marks thicknesses they are what they were in 81 when I started. Then at some point it was wimp city and 4/4 was barely 1 1/16 if that. Pathetic if you are used to working 4/4 to the thickness you want. nothing was gained taking that 4/4 down to 3/4 of 13/16 when it could be more and make a better door.

Old guy said they sawed thinner to increase the yield and said to them the difference is huge in the end. Company he ran owned saw mills and plywood manufacturers as well as solid, so they made their own materials and sold to other companies and supplied themselves then they bought up 100's of companies in towns all over left them in the same name and supplied the companies they now owned. When you talk about money on woodworking, when you have a shop with over 400 employees and cut and supply yourself with materials and others no question about money in woodworking at that level.

[Robert Engel]

S2S kiln dried 5/4 is usually comes in at a strong 1". There is so much variability even with kiln dried.

I actually bought some lumber from a sawmill a few years ago. I requested "strong" 4/4 boards and offered to pay a little extra.

He told me he cuts all his 4/4 lumber @ 1 1/8". I was very happy but never have seen anyone do that.

[Bradley Gray]

1 1/8" is what most of the sawmills here saw for grade lumber. Of course it is green and shrinks some.

I think the maximum thickness also depends on length. With short pieces I can skip face jointing get a full inch from KD 4/4.

[Bruce King]

I had a bizarre experience at a wood supplier in Charlotte NC once. I picked some boards from a bin and was heading to the front office when a guy hopped off a forklift and said let me make your ticket. I think he had a calculator and added it up. I looked at it and said wait this is not right. He got agitated and started proclaiming “those boards don’t have any shrinkage!” I think they were S2S. I just went into the office, told them what happened and asked them to explain it. The girl just rolled her eyes and made a new ticket. To this day I don’t get it because I have found lumber places online that multiply the board footage by 1.15 for shrinkage. I know how to calculate board footage but don’t understand this shrinkage thing. Is it just them adding back the rough part and charging you for the way the board looked before planing or before the wood dried?

[Will Blick]

I am starting to feel better about all my odd experiences with how the yards deal with fractions, shrinkage, rough vs finished, etc. Often I am baffled at the strange systems, methods, whatever, and just pay cause half the time I am so burnt out picking up my wood and getting it out of the store...
the place I buy now, odd size S4S, they charge me 1/4 over the actual thickness. When I asked why, the only answer I get is... thats our policy. Since it is still a good price, I just pay ;)

[Matt Day]

There’s additional charges for S2S obviously, but never heard of accounting for “shrinkage”. I only know of it occurring in cold water.