Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 16

Thread: how much waste

  1. #1

    how much waste

    Hi - Is there a rule of thumb to estimate how much material you lose going from rough to finished stock? I'mm login to a lumber supplier with unfinished stock and want to make sure I buy enough but not too much. Thanks.

  2. #2
    I always plan on losing 1/4" thickness, 1/2" width, and 12 inches from each end (checks). After that, it really depends on what you are building. I usually draw up a rough sketch of groups of pieces for a project and take it with me so I can try and avoid too much waste. The more careful I am, the less scraps I have. But it really depends on what lengths and widths are available and the condition (knots and whatnot) each board is in.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Location
    South West Ontario
    Posts
    1,502
    If you can pick through the boards to at least match critical showpiece boards to their task, that is a big waste saver on length. Those boards also tend to be the most expensive. You may get away with 1/4" of thickness loss on good wood but 1/8" each side on most wood will vanish with a scrub plane on the first pass. Running out wastes time and fuel to get more, sometimes with choice wood the more is gone.
    ​You can do a lot with very little! You can do a little more with a lot!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Longview WA
    Posts
    27,347
    Blog Entries
    1
    For me it depends on the project, the lumber and the quality of the lumber.

    Some species have more knots or splits than other species. Cheap pine, $2 or less a BF, is one of the ones for my projects where usually 50% over is bought. It will be used on other projects if there is any left over.

    On other species or higher quality fir maybe only 10-20% extra.

    My tendency is to purchase more than needed to have leftovers for future projects.

    Then again, a lot of my projects have been made out of firewood that looked nice.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Carlsbad, CA
    Posts
    2,227
    Blog Entries
    2
    If you’re buying select grade hardwoods my rule of thumb is 20%. I’v Never regretted having left overs but have too frequently had to make the last minute trip to lumber yard because I didn’t have quite enough stock.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    Missouri
    Posts
    2,151
    It is difficult to get just right on materials especially for a home shop. If your buying selector better you can go close 10% but that leaves very little wiggle room. As I do one project at a time and buy select I’ll cut it close. Many times I work with red or white oak so I keep some of both on hand, 10 to 20 bf. I then buy 10% over for a project and not worry about it. If I’m buying material that I don’t use often I still buy 10% over and risk another trip to the yard. I don’t mind having something I’ll use in a year or two but I don’t like trying to keep material around for five years. It will get shop worn from restacks and such. If your buying common, 1, or 2 all bets are off you could end up with a knot dead center of every 10 ft piece unless you are careful.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    New England area
    Posts
    588
    Quote Originally Posted by Eric Rathhaus View Post
    Hi - Is there a rule of thumb to estimate how much material you lose going from rough to finished stock? I'mm login to a lumber supplier with unfinished stock and want to make sure I buy enough but not too much. Thanks.
    There is no such thing as "too much." Spend lavishly on lumber. Most people spend lavishly on tools and then try to do exactly what you're attempting to do -- work out of a bare minimum of material inventory. I'm not suggesting being wasteful, far from it, but know this - nothing brings a project to a dead halt faster than attempting to build with a dearth of material at your disposal. If you need 100 bd. ft. for your project then order 200. Do this every time you build something and you'll end up with a real inventory and real peace of mind. Making things out of wood is not cheap. It never has been and never will be. The expense of tools is a drop in the bucket, or at least should be.
    Last edited by Charles Guest; 03-27-2021 at 3:34 AM.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Fairbanks AK
    Posts
    1,566
    Good advice here. The short answer is I don't know, but the long answer is I mostly work (hardwood) in white oak and hickory because I an cycle the waste through my BBQ cookers and keep my wife happy.

    So I stock those two, and look at 8/4 and 12/4 in both everytime I go to the store. My third choice is beech, if I see a gorgeous piece of American beech I will grab it. Neutral in the cookers, but fabulous appearance on the edge grain. Looking at published plans, somewhere between 10-25% waste is ordinary. If the board you are looking at has teeth marks from a saw with 2-3 teeth / inch you are going to lose a lot planing it flat, but you can look at the rest of the board separate.

    Go play, find out what you like to work that also looks good to you, and build inventory in those species.

  9. #9
    It depends on what you are making. For floors. The yield is much higher than for furniture. The aesthetic value of grain may also decrease your yield.

    I only buy online if I trust the vendor to do me right based on the project I am doing. I would not personally buy through a web form without speaking with the guy doing the picking (like Horizon) or where the company makes project packs and has a good reputation to do it right (Bell Forest Products).

    When I trust the vendor, I order very little extra. I can trust that the boards will be stable and I will lose little to planing, and that I may only have to dock a couple inches off the ends from checking.

    Horizon is so good, it’s like having my own curator. He picks boards better than I could. He sends pix. For my part I am willing to pay for it to make it worth his while to remove the surprise for me.
    Last edited by Prashun Patel; 03-27-2021 at 10:18 AM.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2018
    Location
    Lancaster, Ohio
    Posts
    1,346
    I buy from a sawmill 300 bdft or more at a time. Get a good price break and have plenty of choices. Cherry, white oak and popular. I do have enough room to store in the basement, aim for total of 500-1000 bdft on hand at all time.
    Have processed 1000 bdft of rift sawn white oak and ended up with less than a box 16x16x32 full when done , have also processed 500bdft to end up with 200 that I wanted for one particular job. Held the rest back for odds and ends.
    Always have lots of chips to carry away.
    SO ALL DEPENDS ON HOW YOU WORK
    If every piece is critical then figure ahead of time what size pieces you need and hand pick it. THEN PAY THE HIGH PRICE PER PIECE. This may be the cheapest way out in the long run for you.
    IF FLEXIBLE AND HAVE STORAGE ROOM
    Buy in bulk for low bdft price, and run every piece thru the jointer, planer, straight line rip etc
    Good Luck
    Ron

  11. #11
    Thanks for all your replies and wisdom. The project is building a top by laminating 8/4 European beech. Given the nearly certainty that I'll make mistakes, I'll exceed the amount of BF by 25%.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    New England area
    Posts
    588
    Quote Originally Posted by Eric Rathhaus View Post
    Thanks for all your replies and wisdom. The project is building a top by laminating 8/4 European beech. Given the nearly certainty that I'll make mistakes, I'll exceed the amount of BF by 25%.
    If you're face laminating stock to make a benchtop you need X number of boards at whatever thickness you've decided to work with (4/4, 8/4, or whatever) and all at least a certain length. This is one of those instances where ordering X number of board feet might not get you what you need. You could easily be shipped the board feet you ordered, but the configuration will be such that a lot of might not be usable as individual boards for your face glue-up.

    Be careful.

  13. #13
    Thanks, charles. I'll be selecting the boards so I can avoid that issue. My biggest concern is how much I'll lose flattening the faces.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    New England area
    Posts
    588
    Quote Originally Posted by Eric Rathhaus View Post
    Thanks, charles. I'll be selecting the boards so I can avoid that issue. My biggest concern is how much I'll lose flattening the faces.
    Remember that each individual stick doesn't have to be perfectly four-squared for a face lamination.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Eric Rathhaus View Post
    Thanks, charles. I'll be selecting the boards so I can avoid that issue. My biggest concern is how much I'll lose flattening the faces.
    If you plane over the entire surface across the grain with a scrub plane like some of the UTube gurus, you will lose a lot of material, first from the planing and also the material that has to be removed just to clean up the tears and troughs from planing. If you first determine the low spots on the board and barely plane those areas at all, you will save a lot of material.

    If you are joining two boards to make a panel, it is best to refrain from work on the face until after the pieces are glued together. If you work the faces flat before gluing, you still have to true things up after gluing, which results in more material loss.

    Technique and skill play a big part in how much loss of thickness there is. For a 4/4 board I get a 7/8 thick panel dressed, which is the traditional standard.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •