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I had an occasion a few weeks ago to want some nice redwood to use in a project and so went to the local lumber outlet, actually I went to 3 of them. All I really needed was some 3/4 thickness in a width of about 6 inches. When I looked at all the dimensional stock which in other softwood would be 3/4 or darn close to it, I could only find stock that was more like 5/8 or even 0.60 inches. For my purposes that would not cut it. I finally bought some 1-by rough stock that I could plane, but even that had spots that were only 5/8 thick so I had to pick and choose my stock.
Apparently this is now common in No. California. Does anyone know how this happened and why it is not sized like other dimensional softwoods where a 1-by is actually milled to 3/4 and a 2-by is 1-1/2.
Why is redwood sized differently?
vern
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(07-14-2019, 01:22 PM)vernonls Wrote: I had an occasion a few weeks ago to want some nice redwood to use in a project and so went to the local lumber outlet, actually I went to 3 of them. All I really needed was some 3/4 thickness in a width of about 6 inches. When I looked at all the dimensional stock which in other softwood would be 3/4 or darn close to it, I could only find stock that was more like 5/8 or even 0.60 inches. For my purposes that would not cut it. I finally bought some 1-by rough stock that I could plane, but even that had spots that were only 5/8 thick so I had to pick and choose my stock.
Apparently this is now common in No. California. Does anyone know how this happened and why it is not sized like other dimensional softwoods where a 1-by is actually milled to 3/4 and a 2-by is 1-1/2.
Why is redwood sized differently?
vern
last time I bought redwood, (3-4 years ago) I was able to find reasonably nice 1" rough boards that were a full 1" thick. This was at Fosters Lumber yard. the borgs had nothing useful for what I was building.
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Mark
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Wait, I thought redwood shrinks LESS than most other species?
Sounds like someone has their thumb on the scale.
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(07-14-2019, 02:11 PM)meackerman Wrote: last time I bought redwood, (3-4 years ago) I was able to find reasonably nice 1" rough boards that were a full 1" thick. This was at Fosters Lumber yard. the borgs had nothing useful for what I was building.
Redwood sellers at the retail level get real vague real quick about grade quality.
Inform yourself.
http://www.calredwood.org/wp-content/upl...11_opt.pdf
I remember seeing 3/4" redwood in the early 1970s. Even then it was closer to 5/8 thick dressed than it was 3/4". Oddly, the 2x dimensions were 1-5/8" and were for a long time. Go figure.
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Sounds like the Cedar Lowes and HD sell here. The tag says 3/4" and under it in smaller print it says actual dimensions 5/8" X xxx.
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Interesting.... I never see redwood here, several hundred miles from the source.
You are looking at fencing pawned off as dimensional wood. Works the same with cedar. And, always at the borgs which force cheap supply. I rarely waste time looking for decent grades of wood at borgs. Everyone else is picking for the better stuff also. Pay a few cents more and support real lumber yards. You may be surprised and pay less for better stock!
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(07-14-2019, 01:22 PM)vernonls Wrote: I had an occasion a few weeks ago to want some nice redwood to use in a project and so went to the local lumber outlet, actually I went to 3 of them. All I really needed was some 3/4 thickness in a width of about 6 inches. When I looked at all the dimensional stock which in other softwood would be 3/4 or darn close to it, I could only find stock that was more like 5/8 or even 0.60 inches. For my purposes that would not cut it. I finally bought some 1-by rough stock that I could plane, but even that had spots that were only 5/8 thick so I had to pick and choose my stock.
Apparently this is now common in No. California. Does anyone know how this happened and why it is not sized like other dimensional softwoods where a 1-by is actually milled to 3/4 and a 2-by is 1-1/2.
Why is redwood sized differently?
vern
Beronio in San Francisco or Redwood Empire in San Carlos neither will be inexpensive. If you have time to do some searching look for a supplier near Santa Cruz
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