Lowes Mixed up #1 Boards with #2's?

[ajbremer]

Sunday Morning - January 15th, 2012 @ 11:06

I went to a Lowe's here in Oklahoma a couple days ago to purchase some 2x6x10 footers. The young guy there said, "I have two piles to choose from, the 'white wood' or the Douglas Fir". The white wood was a few cents cheaper than the DF. The guy mentioned that he heard stories of how weak the white wood was, said that he knew a guy who was walking some rafters and a rafter made out of white wood broke under him, said the DF was way better etc.

Then I asked him about #1's instead of #2's. "Oh, (he said) their real expensive, about twice as much and we would have to special order them." So I chose to go through the DF pile and started to pick my wood. Then I noticed some pieces of wood there that had the number 1 on them. It looked to me like there were number ones mixed in with those number 2's. The little UPC code on the end of each board was the same throughout, the same on the #1's as the #2's.

Now I'm wondering, did I get away with some good #1's and paid the price of number 2's? The boards were $5.42 each.

Here's a picture of two 2x6x10's stamped #1 and #2:

[MountainDon]

Yep!

Lumber Grading in this topic of ours.

[fishing_guy]

Lucky you... .  Start sorting...

[Don_P]

Quick rule of thumb,
Scan all 4 sides of a board and find the "controlling defect". Mentally slice through that defect and decide how much of that area is compromised by the defect. Pretty much clear, small tight knots is Select Structural. One quarter of the cross section defect is #1, one third is #2, a defect that occupies one half of the cross section of a board is a #3... and is blocking.

This was purchased from the broker as #2 &BTR. Rather than the mill cherry picking the #1's out, you got them.

Think about where you could use more or less strength in the frame as you use these.

[umtallguy]

ah big box lumber, dunno how it gets graded these days, I have seen selects lately that not only are comprimised, but are obviously as the have large areas of bark even

[Don_P]

 

ah big box lumber, dunno how it gets graded these days

Select Structural is a grade. The next lower grade is #1, then#2, then #3

select, prime, higrade, etc are marketing names and have absolutely no bearing on the strength grade of the lumber. These "prettiness grades" are also marked by the graders at the mill. Basically they are cherry picking the pretty #2's and making piles for the big box... and they get a slight premium for that. The picked through but still on grade #2's would then go into a pile and are typically brokered to small and discount dealers, 84 is one of those here, slightly cheaper, butt ugly and hugging the grade. Which is fine.

The grading is done at the mill and is audited by the agency on the grade stamp. You do have the right to call for a regrade if you think the lumber is below grade. This is generally done by the retailer or broker but if you are stuck the remedy is available to you. I've never done that as no supplier has refused to take back material I have rejected. I have gotten into batches that seemed below grade but as I went through and graded the boards they did just make grade, which is fine, grade denotes the cutoff points. That is a good grader doing his job, you can walk up to the line, just don't cross it. A graders rodeo is a contest to see who can spot those break lines the best and the judges get down to vernier calipers. Do they cross the line, sure, I like to think honestly but there are sharks in the water. During grading class I was in a hotel in front of Lowes... of course I spent a few bucks to carry a couple of misgraded #2's into class.  The first thing the instructor did was look to see if it was one of their stamps. He was an auditor. If it had been one of theirs he would have known from the mill number which mill it came from, from the color of the graders crayon he would have known who the individual grader was. It can vary as to how but the grader has basically signed each board. They don't play, they will warn twice and then pull a grader's ticket. If they don't perform their duty the American Lumber Standards Committee can pull the grading agency's ticket. 

Bootleg stamp, unstamped, european lumber... you should probably steer clear of, the inspector would be well within his rights to fail the framing.

We talked about this a little earlier this week, begin reading at post 262
http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=10641.250

[Crappie Slayer]

which lowes did ya go to,,, was it in tulsa,, because the exact thing happened to me last fall, when I was working on my cabin,,,, I dont like going to the big box stores for much,,, the only reason I go is to get my 10 percent dissabled vets discount.... it comes in handy when buying alot of material....

but I hate dealing with all the young punks at lowes or home depot,,, no one helps unless you ask,,, and they never know anything,,,