expectation of 5/4 lumber
#11
What are your expectations of the final thickness when you purchase 5/4 lumber? 

Also would you expect S2S to be flat?

I was hoping for 1" thick seat on my hall bench. I got some 5/4 lumber unfortunately S2S was all I could get. Then I noticed it was not flat. I started working it carefully since it was only about 1 1/16" thick. I stopped bothering with it once I realized it was going to be a little less than 15/16". This is red oak. I have done better with some 4/4 cherry. Back to the store and get 6/4 this time. To make it even worse the 5/4 at the expensive store was more than the 6/4 I can get at the less expensive store. I should check prices meter before I leave the house.
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#12
(12-13-2019, 03:40 PM)CEPenworks Wrote: What are your expectations of the final thickness when you purchase 5/4 lumber? 

Also would you expect S2S to be flat?

I was hoping for 1" thick seat on my hall bench. I got some 5/4 lumber unfortunately S2S was all I could get. Then I noticed it was not flat. I started working it carefully since it was only about 1 1/16" thick. I stopped bothering with it once I realized it was going to be a little less than 15/16". This is red oak. I have done better with some 4/4 cherry. Back to the store and get 6/4 this time. To make it even worse the 5/4 at the expensive store was more than the 6/4 I can get at the less expensive store. I should check prices meter before I leave the house.

the thickness of any size lumber is dependent whether its skip-planed, S2S or what.

I always pick through boards checking for flatness, straightness etc before I bring them home, I have no expectation that any particular board in the stack is flat or straight.

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. - Philip K. Dick

Mark

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#13
Where I buy lumber it's skip planed on both sides.  I don't know if that's the same as S2S, but I always expect to get at least 1" out of 5/4.  As said above, I'm a lot pickier when I need flat stock 8' long than when I only need shorter lengths. They skip plane it so they can see the color and grain for what they are feeding into their mill shop, and I get a "free" benefit.   

FWIW, sometimes the skip planed 5/4 is actually still 5/4, sometimes it's not much more than 1-1/8.  I guess it depends on what their suppliers are delivering.  In any case, I pick ever board myself.  

John
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#14
(12-13-2019, 03:40 PM)CEPenworks Wrote: What are your expectations of the final thickness when you purchase 5/4 lumber? 

Also would you expect S2S to be flat?

I was hoping for 1" thick seat on my hall bench. I got some 5/4 lumber unfortunately S2S was all I could get. Then I noticed it was not flat. I started working it carefully since it was only about 1 1/16" thick. I stopped bothering with it once I realized it was going to be a little less than 15/16". This is red oak. I have done better with some 4/4 cherry. Back to the store and get 6/4 this time. To make it even worse the 5/4 at the expensive store was more than the 6/4 I can get at the less expensive store. I should check prices meter before I leave the house.

I always thought 5/4 should finish out at 1". I recently bought some online that was milled on a bandsaw mill and was pretty wavy and could only get 15/16" out of it. I think some places say S2S when what they really mean is skip planed, so I'd clarify what they mean if you don't really know. I plan to buy rough lumber, which is often times skip planed, and I don't expect it to be flat.
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#15
For the most part when you buy lumber that is planed, thats it, planed. Not jointed and planed.

They start with a cupped board, you get a planed cupped board. The planer feed rollers flatten it, then it springs back to cupped....

Ed
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#16
(12-13-2019, 11:53 PM)EdL Wrote: For the most part when you buy lumber that is planed, thats it, planed. Not jointed and planed.

They start with a cupped board, you get a planed cupped board. The planer feed rollers flatten it, then it springs back to cupped....

Ed

I don't disagree with the above, but if you are not going dress it properly, why even go through the trouble?

Matt
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#17
I went to a yard that was selling 4/4 s2s for cheap.  It was pretty thin, too thin for what I was doing.  I never really liked S2S, i think I'm a pretty good judge of wood in the rough.  I'm sure there are people that like to see what they are getting. I feel like the yard workers don't have the incentive to do a good job of planing it.
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#18
5/4 lumber should be thicker than 1", though not by much. Usually the boards I get are RELATIVELY flat, BUT flat doesn't mean free of twists. And then when the boards are in my shop, there is no guarantee that they will stay flat. I deal with three different lumber yards, and the only way I can get flat stock is to mill it myself and then use it soonest.

Simon
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#19
(12-13-2019, 03:40 PM)CEPenworks Wrote: What are your expectations of the final thickness when you purchase 5/4 lumber? 

Also would you expect S2S to be flat?

I was hoping for 1" thick seat on my hall bench. I got some 5/4 lumber unfortunately S2S was all I could get. Then I noticed it was not flat. I started working it carefully since it was only about 1 1/16" thick. I stopped bothering with it once I realized it was going to be a little less than 15/16". This is red oak. I have done better with some 4/4 cherry. Back to the store and get 6/4 this time. To make it even worse the 5/4 at the expensive store was more than the 6/4 I can get at the less expensive store. I should check prices meter before I leave the house.

5/4 is a rough lumber designation. S2S mean surfaced two sides. What you got was a 5/4 rough board surfaced down to a thinner dimension. It does not mean it will be jointed. Yes, sometime you only need S2S if the board starts out relatively flat. The shorter the piece the more likely too that you can get by with only S2S. I just bought 6/4 arroya (acetylated radiata pine) and planed it down on both sides and it is and has stayed very flat, but this is for garage door frames, not fine furniture.
"Try to reach the level where there is no competitor except excellence itself."
---James Krenov
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#20
(12-13-2019, 04:01 PM)meackerman Wrote: the thickness of any size lumber is dependent whether its skip-planed, S2S or what.

I always pick through boards checking for flatness, straightness etc before I bring them home, I have no expectation that any particular board in the stack is flat or straight.

Funny...as a teenager I worked in a real, old school lumber yard...Unloaded tractor trailer and boxcar loads of lumber shipped from all over the country (especially redwood). The owner drilled into us that no customer was permitted to pick thru the lumber, without paying a premium, as otherwise he is left with bunks of twisted, cupped, or otherwise difficult to sell lumber (not to mention having to pay us to strip and restack to keep the lumber as straight as possible). When they purchase from the mills, there was no option to pick, so they had no choice but to pass that on to the customers...
Poppop (the owner of the yard, and no relation to me) would have throw battens and dunnage at us if he saw anyone not giving 100%, and the customers too if he saw them picking and tossing lumber on the ground...
Good times...miss that place...
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