Lumber Grades Explained

NADIAH
Lumber Grades Explained

• What Different Types of Lumber Grades Mean

• Lumber is a wood product, sawn and shaped from timbers of harvested
trees. By its nature, wood is not of uniform consistency and therefore will
contain defects that impact the appearance of the lumber that is created
from the wood material, and which may impact the structural
characteristics as well. In the U.S., lumber is assigned a grade which
establishes a measure of consistency in the final products produced by
mills. These grades are used to define both the quality of the lumber
products delivered and to provide the buyer with a means to estimate
the cost and waste associated with the selection of a given grade of the
product as raw material.
There are grading systems for both softwood and hardwood lumber –
this article presents a summary of both systems and the provides
explanations of the meaning of each grade.
Softwood versus Hardwood

• Softwoods are those which are derived from the harvesting of coniferous trees
(gymnosperms), which are more often known as evergreen trees. These trees
are ones which usually have needles and cones as opposed to leaves. Softwood
lumber tends to be lighter and has a lower density than hardwood, owing from
the fact that these trees that exhibit a higher rate of growth than hardwood
trees. The high rate of growth contributes to the abundant supply, with most of
the processed timber coming from softwoods. They tend to have a straighter
grain, making these woods suitable for use in construction framing lumber and
building components such as windows and doors.
• Some of the most commonly used softwoods that are
created into lumber include:
• Cedar – both red and yellow most commonly
• Fir – often called Douglas Fir
• Pine
• Redwood
• Spruce
• By contrast, hardwoods come from angiosperms (flowering trees which are usually
broad-leaved), which lose their leaves in the fall and winter seasons. These trees
contain vessels that serve as a transport mechanism for water, and exhibit pores
on their surface which results in more intricate and interesting looking grains
patterns in these woods, depending on the pore size. This characteristic makes
them the choice woods for use in woodworking. Hardwood trees are slower
growing than softwoods, which contributes to their higher density, making these
woods stronger and more durable. This property lends to their use in furniture
making, cabinetry, flooring, and other construction applications where longevity of
service is of primary importance. Hardwood lumber is generally more expensive
than softwood lumber, driven by a more limited supply from the slower rate of
tree growth and the value of the strength of the material. 
• Common hardwood lumber products include:
• Alder
• Ash including white ash
• Beech
• Birch
• Cherry
• Hickory
• Mahogany
• Maple
• Oak, including red and white varieties
• Poplar
• Teak
• Walnut
Softwood Lumber Grades

• The American Lumber Standard Committee (http://www.alsc.org) serves as the

body that developed and maintains the American Softwood Lumber Standard PS
20 under auspices of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
• The majority use case for softwood lumber is for what is characterized as
construction lumber, which may be further subdivided into stress-graded,
nonstress-graded, and appearance lumber. Appearance lumber is judged mainly
by the overall visual quality, whereas stress-graded or nonstress-graded lumber is
more concerned with the structural integrity of the wood. Retail lumberyards
typically sell nonstress-graded and appearance lumber, which is collectively
referred to as “yard lumber”. Grading is done after the drying and surfacing
operations are completed and is accomplished based on both the size and
number of defects appearing on the better side of the piece.
Nonstress Lumber Grades

• or nonstress lumber pieces (a common example

being the “2-by”) which is less than 2” thick and
greater than nominal 2” in width, the grades are
shown in Table 2 below:
Appearance Lumber Grades
• With appearance lumber, there is additional
emphasis on the physical look of the lumber given
that it may be exposed once installed, e.g. used to
make softwood furniture. The highest grade of
appearance lumber is designated as finish, followed
by selects and common. There is some variation in
these terms and grades depending on the agency
responsible.
Table 3 below shows the grade designations for select and common
softwoods:

 
Grade Designation Description
A Select Does not exhibit knots, splits or visible defects.

B Select A few small visible defects.

C Select Small knots, but one side may be completely clear of
defects.
D Select May contain pin knots and other small blemishes.

1 Common Contains small knots that give an overall knotty

appearance as with knotty pine boards. Knots are tight
and are unlikely to fall out.

2 Common Have tight knots but larger in size than the No. 1
Common.
• Stress-Graded Lumber Grades
• Softwoods that are stress-graded are used as beams, posts,
studs, rafters, and joists, for example, where the material is
functioning in a load-bearing capacity and working stresses will
be applied. The stress gradings may be determined either by
visual means or through mechanical testing according to ASTM
standards and procedures, establishing standard working
values for mechanical properties such as the modulus of
elasticity and the bending moment. These pieces are referred
to as structural lumber.
• Stress-graded lumber grading is shown below in Table 4:
  Table 4: Lumber Grades for Stress-Graded Lumber

Reference source: https://www.wwpa.org/western-lumber/structural-lumber/dimensional-lumber
Designation Grade Description /Uses
Structural Light Framing Select Structural For sizes 2”x2” through 4”x4”. Whenever high-
  No. 1 & BTR strength design values are required, form example
with engineered wood trusses.
  No. 1
  No. 2
  No. 3
Light framing Construction For sizes 2”x2” through 4”x4”.  Framing applications
  Standard such as wall frames, cripples, sills, plates, and
  Utility blocking.

Stud Stud For sizes 2”x2” through 4”x18”. This grade applies
for lumber in vertical use as in a load bearing wall
application.

Structural Joists & Planks Select Structural For sizes 2”x5” through 4”x18”. Applications
include larger lumber serving as floor and ceiling
  No. 1 & BTR
joists, rafters, headers, and trusses, for example.
  No. 1
  No. 2
  N
Hardwood Lumber Grades

• Grading of hardwoods is significantly less complicated than that of softwoods. The American Hardwood Export Council (
https://www.ahec.org/) has developed The Illustrated Guide to American Hardwood Lumber Grades which provides the basis
for the grading system, measurement standards, and descriptions of the characteristics and defects associated with the ten
of the common hardwoods in use.
• Given the emphasis with hardwoods on the overall appearance of the product, it should not be surprising that appearance
becomes the primary factor used to establish the grade of the lumber. Hardwood grading for lumber considers the size and
number of pieces (or cuttings) which may be yielded during the creation of a hardwood product. The grading system is based,
therefore, on the measurable percentage of clear wood that is defect-free for each of the grades. The higher grades will have
a larger percentage of usable material yield, which declines steadily for the lower grades of hardwood. So, the highest grades
provide the largest or longest clear pieces for use, while the lower or common grades require additional cuts to obtain clear
pieces, which thereby will tend to be shorter or smaller.
• The upper or highest grades are designated as FAS (Firsts and Seconds), FAS/1F (FAS-One-Face) and Sel (Selects). These are
most suitable for applications such as furniture, long clear moldings, and other product use where there is a necessity for ling
wide cuttings that are as clear as possible.
• The common grades, Number 1 Common and Number 2 Common, are suitable for kitchen cabinetwork, furniture parts, and
plank and strip flooring. Note that the grade difference between the upper and common grades reflects the yield (measured
as the usable % of the material that is clear and defect-free). The clarity of the common piece will be the same as that of the
upper grade, but the size will be smaller for the common compared with the FAS and Select grades.
Firsts and Seconds grade (FAS)

A summary of the grade designations appears in Table 5 below:

Table 5: Lumber Grades for Hardwoods

Grade Abbrevia Minimu Minimu

Name tion m Board m Yield
Size or Usable
Material
on One
Face
First and FAS 6 in. x 8 83-1/3%
Seconds ft.
FAS One F1F 6 in. x 8 83-1/3%
Face ft.
Select SEL 4 in. x 6 83-1/3%
ft.
#1 No. 1 C 3 in. x 4 66-2/3%
Common ft.
Useful Nomenclature

• There are specific terms and definitions that are used in the grading of lumber, a few of
which are summarized here for convenience:
• Board foot – defined as the product of the width of the board by the thickness (both in
inches) multiplied by the length of the board in feet.
• Surface measure – defined as a measure of the surface area of the board. Surface measure
is calculated by taking the product of the width of the board (measured in inches) by the
length of the board (measured in feet) and then dividing that product by 12, rounding to the
nearest whole number value. This measure is the estimated surface area in square inches.
• Gross tally – also called green tally, this value represents the number of board feet of kiln-
dried lumber when measured prior to the drying process. Shrinkage from the drying
operation will reduce this value by approximately 7%
• Net tally – the same measurement as gross tally, except that the measurement is performed
after the drying operation is performed on the lumber.
Summary

• This article presented a summary of the different grading systems for softwoods and hardwoods. To
learn more about the suppliers of lumber, see our guide to lumber suppliers in the U.S.
• To explore other topics, consult our additional guides or visit the Thomas Supplier Discovery Platform
 to locate potential sources of supply or view details on specific products.
•  
• Sources:
• https://www.esf.edu/wus/documents/IllustratedGradingGuide.pdf
• http://www.woodbin.com/ref/softwood-grades/
• https://www.easybiologyclass.com/difference-between-hardwood-and-softwood/
• https://www.diffen.com/difference/Hardwood_vs_Softwood
• https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wood-density-d_40.html
• https://classes.mst.edu/civeng2211/lessons/wood/grades_of_lumber/index.html
• https://www.wwpa.org/western-lumber/structural-lumber/dimensional-lumber