13/16s S3S - What's It Good For?

[Mike Shields]

I've been calling around to various hardwoods stores inquiring about prices and user-friendliness of picking through wood.

Hard maple that is S3S at 13/16" is $4.64 bf.

I can't see this thickness being used for a 3/4" project. After the wood acclimates to my garage, some bowing or cupping is very likely. It's possible that I may have to remove several 16ths.

Would you expect to use this 13/16s for a 3/4" project, or 1/2"? I've always bought 4/4s and then milled down to 3/4s.

I guess I'm not understanding the reason for a lumber yard dimensioning to 13/16s.

[Jim Becker]

13/16" lumber is usually provided that way so the woodworker can clearly see the color and grain pattern which is more difficult in rough. This is an alternative to skip planing which leaves some of the surface rough. The 13/16" material is usually further processed by the woodworker to the actual desired thickness after insuring it's flat. Personally, I don't like buying this kind of material because there is less flexibility with thickness.

[Tim Thomas]

I'm with you, that is kind of a mystery. I don't see much utility in those dimensions. The only thing I can think of is if you needed a bunch of short pieces that were finished to 3/4 thick. Perhaps it would save you some time at the jointer and planer (and some wood dust/shavings) if you needed a bunch of 16 inch long pieces that were 3/4 thick??? That's a stretch of the imagination, but it's the best I can come up with... :)

[William OConnell]

I've been calling around to various hardwoods stores inquiring about prices and user-friendliness of picking through wood.

Hard maple that is S3S at 13/16" is $4.64 bf.

I can't see this thickness being used for a 3/4" project. After the wood acclimates to my garage, some bowing or cupping is very likely. It's possible that I may have to remove several 16ths.

Would you expect to use this 13/16s for a 3/4" project, or 1/2"? I've always bought 4/4s and then milled down to 3/4s.

I guess I'm not understanding the reason for a lumber yard dimensioning to 13/16s.
I buy it that way all the time . My hardwood guy surfaces 2 sides for 20 cents and straight line rips one edge. I like it just fine. I just had 300 board ft. of red oak delivered and actually orered it exactly like that on purpose.
It was in the shop 5 minutes and was ripped to 2" and 3" for the face frames and 2 7/16" for rails and stiles ( hence the 1 straight line rip it goes right to the tablesaw).
Some was ripped at 4 5/8" for a crown moulding I'm going to make and some at 5 5/8" for some base moulding.
The rest was ripped to 7" and 4'" for some wood hydronic baseoard heat covers. All of that stock has been sitting stacked flat for the last 2 weeks.
Ive ordered it like that for years . Why does wood have to e 3/4"?

[Mitchell Andrus]

I have all of my wood delivered 13/16. It allows me to finish sand and still be a bit thicker than 3/4.

This difference comes in handy when you make butt joints and want a 'finger nail catching' reveal without having to further thin the 3/4 part.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

That thickness is standard for dressed lumber. It's left that way so it can be processed to 3/4" with a fresh face. You have the advantage with it of being able to tell pretty much what the finished board will look like. It usually has a straight line rip so you don't have to worry with cutting a straight edge.....which you have to do a lot of the time anyway. :rolleyes:

[Peter Quinn]

13/16" lumber is good for things where flattening isn't critical, you need to read the grain quickly, and you don't need the additional demands on your chip collector and planer. Saves a lot of time, particularly in a high volume commercial environment such as a cabinet shop or for a thru molder. Face frames are a good example. Base trim or casings are another. I have heard many a novice wood worker who has come under the impression that every piece of wood must be jointed flat actually considering how to "flatten" stock for moldings! Just not necessary. Certain millwork involving joinery really must be flattened, like door stock and passage door parts, and fine furniture sort of requires it too. For 3/4" finished thickness in that case I would source 4/4" rough or skim planed 15/16" depending on species.

I don't think you can flatten 13/16" lumber to much over than 11/16" over any length, which may be just fine for many things, face frames for instance which will be thin enough to bend a bit and securely fastened to a very rigid carcass. It is amazing the volume of chips created by planing a 1/4" off of a a piece of lumber.

[Rick Fisher]

13/16" is pretty much the norm for "retail wood". We sell Red Oak and Eastern Maple in 13/16" S2S1E.

In my experience, you can easily get 5/8" to 11/16" lumber unless you need to joint it first.

If you intend on jointing it, just get some 4/4 rough and as said above, some extra bags for the DC :)

[Steve Nouis]

Cabinet shops order it like that a lot. I would think if it's properly dried it wouldn't move much at all after you buy it. Steve

[Mike Shields]

... Why does wood have to e 3/4"?

As a beginner, I'm not starting projects from scratch, but using plans. An example is drawer frames and doors that are 3/4": grooves are 1/4" and the tenons are 1/4" thick. This makes for a really simple cut with a dado. And if the material thickness is cut right, minimal sanding is needed. I've had perfect fits!

This had been a HUGE benefit to increasing my confidence.

I would never have expected all the reasons why 13/16s exist. I, obviously, have ALOT to learn.

Thanks everyone, for the (continuing) education.

[Steve Clardy]

Yep. 25/32 or 13/16 is standard, dressed material

[Mike Keers]

The actual thickness isn't that great a concern for things like face frames and cabinet doors for a small shop doing custom work or individual making one-off things. At least not to my work.

Using your 1/4" mortise and tenon and door grooves example, as long as you always keep one face (side) as your reference you can mill up four pieces of nominal 3/4" wood for a frame and panel door, and machine your dados and mortise and tenon joints 1/4" in from the money side, then the 1/4" dado or mortise or tenon, then the back side can be anything around 1/4", the actual dimension of the space between the dado for the panel and the rear face of the board doesn't have to be 'exactly' 1/4". As long as all your bits and pieces are machined together to be the same thickness you'll be OK.

I think what I'm trying to say is, don't think you need to center the 1/4" dado on a 3/4" board, you don't. You can come in 1/4" from the face side, and let the back side be what it will. This works for slightly undersized or oversized stock. depending on the edge treatment for the inside perimeter of a frame and panel door, you can put the extra thickness outside (to give more than a 1/4" reveal) or inside where nobody will notice (except maybe yooz guys! ;) ).

There have been many times where I've encountered what you're concerned about, having something fractionally less than a full 3/4" by the time I've surfaced my stock. I don't see many people walking around measuring my furniture to make sure the doors or face frames are exactly 3/4" thick. Sometimes they're under by a fraction, sometimes over.

Personally, I go with the lumber I have, and I do prefer to mill my own from rough stock for these very reasons. And like some others probably do, I often go for maximum thickness in an individual lot of wood for a project; I don't go automatically to 3/4" unless there is some compelling reason to. If I'm lucky enough to have some stock come out 13/16" or 15/16", I go with the extra thickness if I can. But I make one-off custom pieces, not standard casework like kitchen cabs or whatever, so YMMV.

Sometimes a door or top closer to a full 1" is called for in the style. I do a lot of Arts & Crafts (Mission) style pieces, and often 'reproductions' of Stickley pieces to the actual shop drawings. You'd be surprised to see the variation, those old guys 100 years ago went for the thickest wood they could get I think, and you'll rarely see 3/4" specified on the drawings I have. I recently built a bedroom set to the shop drawings from Stickley, and there was wood 13/16", 7/8", 15/16", 5/8" and 3/4" specified--all in the same nightstand (plus 1/2" for the drawer sides and 3/8" for the panels)!

A guy could probably just go with 3/4" dimensional stock, but somehow all those little differences add up to make a big difference in the finished project--a subtle thicker look to the top at 15/16", thinner 3/4" for rails and stiles, 5/8" for the bottom shelf, a bit of a fingernail reveal here or there...these things were carefully thought out by designers (Harvey Ellis in this case) and to me, it's worth the extra effort to try and duplicate what they intended.