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Posted by Sherman in Idaho [72.47.153.24] on Monday, June 18, 2012 at 16:08:34 :
In Reply to: Re: Dipteryx Panamensis (almendro) posted by Ron in Indiana [50.121.41.251] on Monday, June 18, 2012 at 15:34:00 :
The big-box stores buy their lumber from local mills, if any is available, because it costs too much to ship it any distance. Around here (North Idaho) we have good lumber and good sawmills, and consequently the stuff that H.D. and Lowes sells is every bit as good as you'd get at most independent yards, at least when it comes to dimensional lumber. Here it's all "D-fir/Larch" most units have a mixture of #1, #2 and Sel-Str in them, and if you're buying from a box store, you might as well high-grade them. On the coast, on the other hand, the same stores are selling "hem-fir" at the same prices, which is lousy lumber.
In this area, the worst lumber is consistently what they sell at Ziggy's (a small local chain). They always have newspaper fliers advertising the lowest prices anywhere. That much is generally true, but you better get that lumber in the the truck and strap it down tight as quick as you can before it tries to tie itself into knots.
Personally, I think a guy's better off knowing how to evaluate lumber in a given unit than saying one store is better than another. Sometimes they get a unit in that's way better than the grading indicates, or sometimes one log happened to be extra good but the mill didn't bother sorting the boards out for higher-value grades. I once pulled a dozen absolutely clear vertical grain old-growth doug fir 2x4s out of a unit of "std & btr" studs at Lowes. You can generally tell just looking at the ends of the wood in the unit if there's anything down in there that might be extra good. For bed wood, I would always use vg clears if I could find them (I think what the hardwood guys call "quarter sawn") since it won't cup or check when exposed to weather cycles.
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