Help me break down a lumber price quote

[duckkisser]

_{ok i contacted a milling outfit near by to get a price quote and i get some of what there saying but not all for instance what does RWL stand for or KD and S2s 15/16 SLR1E. and i get that BF is board feet but what is SF and FAS 1f&BTR?}

_{i just bought a board from menards that is a 1x6-10 standard for $3.88 so if i figure it right that is the board feet of a 12x5 so that is .78 a board foot.}

_{and a 12 by 10 select is $38.39 so that is 3.83 a board foot}

_{these guys are sell furniture grade for 1.41 a bf is that good or bad thing? seems like a good thing even though its rough cut we can clean it up.}

INDIAN OAKS.pdf

[Beechwood Chip]

Someone who knows this stuff will chime in, but I'll get the ball rolling with the little I know:

• KD = Kiln Dried
  
• S2S = Surfaced two sides, meaning the faces of the boards are planed but not the edges. There's also S4S where the faces and the edges are planed and square
  
• FAS = Firsts and Seconds, a grade of lumber quality
  

This page might help. I'm looking forward to learning what the rest mean. I know "SEL&BTR" = "Select and Better", another lumber grade, but I've never heard of 1f&BTR, RWL, or SLR1E.

Oooh! I bet SLR1E means that in addition to S2S, one edge is straight so it's ready for a table saw. But I can't figure out what the SLR stands for. Straight Line Ready One Edge?

[ChrisHerringshaw]

RWL = Random Widths and Lengths

SLR1E = Straight Line Ripped on 1 Edge

1f&BTR = lumber grading, 1F means one side meets FAS quality, while the other only meets common quality; so this is saying the lumber is at least 1F quality "or better".

[Beechwood Chip]

The 15/16 just means that after the S2S planing, the boards are 15/16" thick. Oh, and SF in this context is Square Feet.

[jimmykx250]

What does rgh mean? I see that on most of the line items? Please let me know what you think of thse guys if you use them. The prices seem reasonable adn im not too far from them. Thanks, Jim

[Beechwood Chip]

I assume rgh is "rough". If you buy rough, remember to buy extra thickness and width to leave room for planing off the rough surface. I'd buy a quarter inch more so I could take an eight of each side.

[RenaissanceWW]

As an employee of a lumber company let me chime in and say everyone has it right above. The lumber industry (like most industries) is riven with ancronyms and terminology. Unfortunately no one seems to want to clear up any of the mystery but rather leave customers in the dark. A lot of this stems from the constantly changing value of the lumber commodities market. Species prices change all the time and in many instances each order needs to be custom quoted because costs and retail will vary so much. The upshot is that yards have to have price points for everything that is done to the wood in order to ensure labor costs and handling overheads are met.

As an aside, FAS is the highest quality grade for domestic (US) species granted by the NHLA grading system (National Hardwood Lumber Association). An FAS board must be at least 6" wide by 8' long and must be 83% clear of defects on both faces. It should be noted that sapwood is not considered a defect as well.

Select is basically an FAS board on 1 face.

Below this you get the variations of Common which means that less and less of the board is clear of defects. Some smaller overall sizes are allowed as well.

Despite being labelled as such, exotics are not graded the same way. It is common to see FAS Mahogany in a yard, but the rest of the world uses different grading systems (too many to count). Because these exotics grow differently and have less defects due to larger trees and lower percentages of sapwood, the bar has to be raised a bit from FAS. I wrote a brief post on NHLA grading on my company blog http://www.mcilvain.com/understanding-hardwood-lumber-grading/ if anyone is interested in learning more.

[Dan S]

I have this save to my hard-drive at home, it's come in very handy over the years.

The National Hardwood Lumber Association Illustrated Grading Guide

[duckkisser]

ok so im wondering it seems like these are all select or bette i wonder if these guys would ever sell quality or standard. does anyone else that has ordered stuff from a company like this if they tend to not bother with this kind of stuff.

[duckkisser]

Someone who knows this stuff will chime in, but I'll get the ball rolling with the little I know:

• KD = Kiln Dried
  
• S2S = Surfaced two sides, meaning the faces of the boards are planed but not the edges. There's also S4S where the faces and the edges are planed and square
  
• FAS = Firsts and Seconds, a grade of lumber quality
  

This page might help. I'm looking forward to learning what the rest mean. I know "SEL&BTR" = "Select and Better", another lumber grade, but I've never heard of 1f&BTR, RWL, or SLR1E.

Oooh! I bet SLR1E means that in addition to S2S, one edge is straight so it's ready for a table saw. But I can't figure out what the SLR stands for. Straight Line Ready One Edge?

I have this save to my hard-drive at home, it's come in very handy over the years.

The National Hardwood Lumber Association Illustrated Grading Guide

ok these guys gave me some great info and i printed them out and put them in a binder along with my wood identification pages.