Check out Sherwood’s library of articles about Lumber Terms & Explanations!
https://sherwoodlumber.com/what-is-a-board-foot/
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Sherwood has some fantastic educational material… some of the best in the industry. I love that they make it so publicly available!
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I agree !!!
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@william_giguere Do you know who is behind all of the great educational content put out by Sherwood?
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Sherwood is an awesome source but it should also be mentionned that North American lumber is unique on the global scale because the sold dimensions are different than the real dimensions. IE/ we sell 2 x 6 - 16’ which equals 16 board feet while in reality the piece of wood actually contains 11 board feet (1.5" x 5.5" x 16 / 12). Very often this is where North American mills wanting to export hit a speed bump and the process becomes more complicated. While North America is nominal, pretty much the rest of the globe is actual.
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I think Neill Gibson is correct, however, did not explain the complete answer. Board feet is calculated prior to kiln drying, either air dried or green, and since wood shrinks, the remaining dimensions are less than the original as in the 2x4 is not actually a 2x4 but 1 1/2 x 3 1/2 (or is it 3/4–hell, I forget). This is called then dimensional softwood lumber. Hardwoods are also graded and tallied prior to kiln drying as a board foot count, except on some occasions by contract where it’s tallied after KD, and because of the drying shrinks on an average of 7% in width, not length. In hardwoods, it is sold as net tally or gross tally, after KD or before KD, respectively. When selling on a net measure on a green tally, a contract would read tallied before KD with 7% added for shrinkage- net tally.
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Thank you Jeff Lassle for the added information on the original concept behind dimensional softwood lumber. Note that in todays modern softwood sawmills in North America, the majority no longer saw rough green at actual or full dimension.
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Thank you again @Neill_Gibson and @Jeff_Lassle for your encyclopedic knowledge!
Going back to @Andrew_Gibson 's question for @william_giguere: do you know Bill who produces Sherwood’s fantastic educational content?
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Michael Goodman leads the team on putting out content!
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Yet few here will understand what 4 quarter means or 8 quarter.
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Michael Goodman is a superstar! His feedback helped build the foundations of Pakira in the earliest days. Let’s get him on here!
I’d love to create an “education” section of the forum and fill it with the best educational content from across the industry. Michaels posts would be a great place to start. What do you think?
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Thank you very much for this. This will certainly be used in our training guides going forward.
One of the challenges in handling all types of commodities is understanding each industry’s language. Our shippers’ customers are our customers, and communication is the key to providing quality service.
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