Saw to 4/4 or 5/4

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rbdoby

New User
Rick
A cousin of mine wants me to saw a couple of hemlock logs for him. He wants the lumber to build something for the new house he is starting to build. I have no idea what he will build out of the lumber but I told him let it dry at least a year.

My question is should I saw it at 4/4 or at 5/4 thick?

Rick Doby
 

Ray Martin

New User
Ray
I'd ask your cousin what the plan for the wood is. Is he going to need a couple of thicker pieces in the mix? He could, of course laminate a couple of thinner boards together. One problem with thicker is that you may have to let it dry longer.

Without knowing any of the real requirements, I would suggest thicker is better than thinner. It's easier to take a bit away than it is to add some back on. Between 4/4 and 5/4, go with 5/4.

Ray
 

JackLeg

New User
Reggie
If he wants a true 5/4 finished board, I'd add about 1/16th to 1/8" for shrinkage as it dries.

:eusa_thin
 

skysharks

New User
John Macmaster
5/4 rough cut and green will dry out in about 1 year air drying.
it will shrink to about 1 1/8. Depending upon how deep rough cut marks go in, and jointing out 2 sides to have 2 square edges. It should plane out to be 3/4" finish lumber (+/-).

This has been my experience and just my 2 cents.

Hope this helps.

Mac
 

Alan in Little Washington

Alan Schaffter
Corporate Member
Jeff or Kyle can correct me if I am wrong, but it is usual practice to cut hardwood 1/8" oversized- 4/4 would actually be cut 1 1/8" thick. It will shrink to 4/4 or less during drying.

However, that being said, I have still found that with anything other than the best stock with no twist and no internal stress, it is still better to cut it to 5/4 (actually 1 3/8 if you want a final thickness of 3/4. That gives you some allowance if you need to do a lot of jointing to remove warp, cup, or other surface irregularities.

Some cabinet makers use 13/16" dressed stock for faceframes and door stiles/rails. Once the glue has dried they run the door through a drum/belt sander to level any misalignment between stile and rail joints, to end up with 3/4" thick doors. Starting with 4/4 thick stock will give only 3/16" or less allowance to remove warp, cup, etc. on the jointer if you are going to plane it to 13/16.
 

scsmith42

New User
Scott Smith
Ditto Alan's comments re leaving extra for cup, twist, warp, etc.

As it dries, Eastern Hemlock shrinks an average of 3% radially, and 6.8% tangentially. This is less than oak and similar to some pine species.

Find out what your cousin may want to use it for and cut it appropriately. Any boards that have knots, etc in them probably need to be cut thicker in order to account for the distortians that will occur during the drying process.

Scott
 

rbdoby

New User
Rick
Thanks guys,

I was leaning toward 5/4 because I have no idea what my cousin wants built from it and I figure I'm the one who will build it. I know I'll cut some 8/4 just in case.

Rick Doby
 
J

jeff...

I know next to nothing about softwoods other than it mainly used for construction and pretty much cut dead on. A 2x4 is cut 2x4 and dry dressed to 1 1/2 x 3 1/2, hemlock is a softwood. I guess you could take it you'll loose 1/2" on thickness and width once dry and cut the lumber accordingly.

The "general" rule of thumb for hardwoods is + 3/8" for thickness and 1/2" for width:

* 5/4 +1/8 for 1" dry dressed
* 9/4 + 1/8 for 2" dry dressed or 3/4 ~ 7/8" re-saw book matched.

Keep in mind the wider the boards the more chance for twist, cup and bow, so you may want to cut those wider boards a bit thicker. You can usually get a pretty good feel for what the lumber is going to do when you cutting boards off the log. Except for maple, I've cut a bunch of maple logs and still can't figure out how to consistently saw it right... it seems to have a mind of it's own.

Thanks
 
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