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Industry Terms and Definitions
Board Foot- A piece of lumber 1 inch thick, 12 inches wide and 1 foot long.
Burl- A swirl or twist in the grain of the wood which does not contain a knot.
Cant- A log that has been squared off in preparation for milling into dimensional lumber or boards.
Dimension Lumber- Lumber cut to predetermined specific width (1”x4”, 2”x4”, etc.)
Grade- A classification based on the quality of the wood considering defects such as knot, splits and grain patterns.
Green Lumber– Freshly sawn, unseasoned lumber.
Hardwood– The wood of any broad leaf tree.
Heartwood– The central supporting column of the tree trunk, consisting of mature wood in which little further change will occur.
Kerf– The cut made by a saw.
Kiln-Dried- Wood that has been artificially dried.
Open Grain- Hardwoods with widely separated annual rings.
Plain/Flat Sawn– Lumber sawn tangent to the tree’s annual rings. Most lumber is plain sawn.
Planed– Machine dressed to a smooth surface
Quarter Sawn– A sawing pattern in which rings are at angles of 45 degrees to 90 degrees, parallel or almost parallel with medullary rays.
Rift-sawing– A sawing pattern in which wood is sawn perpendicular to the growth rings.
Sapwood– Lighter colored wood which grows between the heartwood and bark.
Softwood– Wood or lumber of any coniferous tree.
Veneer– Sliced or peeled thin sheets of wood for gluing to a base material.
Bandsaw Mill
Circlesaw Mill
