counting board feet

allen levine

Member
Messages
12,344
Location
new york city burbs
I might have brought this subject up years ago, but I have to ask opinion again.

I received a nice sized lumber order today, with 500 dollar min order required for free delivery from this yard, I saved myself a trip , tolls, and half a day with picking wood

was every board a select board? no, but I know its just take off top of pile when I order, Im willing to live with that, only a few boards were less than what Id take.

my problem was with their count.


lets say I measure a piece of 5/4,

I measure the width, exactly, times the exact length, multiplied by 1.25 then divide by 144.

for an example, lets say I get 6.5 .

today, I noticed my count and the yards count was off on the 5/4 and 4/4 by approx. 3-4 bf each one.

so if a board is 10 and 1/2 wide, do they count that as 11 inches wide, and do they round off 6.5 bf to 7?

that would make up the difference of 3 bf in 50 or 100 bf total.

am I counting wrong if I count 10.5 inches wide as 10.5 inches wide? am I wrong to add 6.5 bf as 6.5 bf and not 7 bf?
 
Allen i aint expert but inmo you absolutely correct on your measurements. I would call the yard out on the difference. Not the way to treat a bulk purchase.
At my lumber place they usually throw in wood and round down.

What type of wood did you get and was it a really good price per bd ft ?
 
sapele, ran from 5.40 to 6 and change for the 12/4, just looked

the prices are good for here. I just think they round everything up.

their sapele comes surfaced 2 sides, which again, Im ok with. saves me some planning. I run it through the jointer once and once or twice through the planer.

they offer discounts for 100bf, 200bf, 300 bf and so on. I haven't made a large purchase of wood in a long time so I haven't taken advantage of the discounts.

IM thinking next time I need some lumber, I will go up there and question a board on what they get total and see how my calculations differ then ask questions.
 
Last edited:
Also on Hardwoods if you buy an 8' 11 1/2" board it is considered an 8' board and so on and if buying something like #1com and it is under 8' then it will not make grade and can not be sold as a #1com board but must be sold as a short or #2 at a lower price. I cant remember if it is in the Hardwood rules or from the Wt & Measure boys which require them to sell by NET tally not gross
 
If you really want to know what the rules are, I suggest you go to NHLA and download for free the "NHLA Rules Book 2015". In the Measurement & Tally section is an explanation of how the measurement is to take place. The measurement of "surface measurement" in the calculation is probably the key to many differences. I suspect that this is the area that many people are doing incorrectly.
 
See www.solowoodworker.com/wood/buyhardwood.html - half way down the page I go through the legally accepted ways of measuring. Green measure (how big was the board when it came from the saw mill) vs. dry measure (from the kiln but still very rough) vs. dry with on straight edge (about 10% less), etc. All are legal but I would require a sign in every lumber yard that specifies which way they work. One of the big lumber suppliers in Austin is always about 20% cheaper, but they do green measure, which makes them, at best, barely competitive with the others.

You also may have been bit by the scaling stick, a legally accepted way or measuring multiple boards together and rounding the measurements.
 
Ive seen them, the guy uses a scaling stick.

Im not sure if I want them not to want me as a customer. They are by far the best supplier of lumber closest to me, and their prices are better than the other 2 dealers, and, a huge bonus, they deliver anything over 500 dollars for free, the other yards add on a shipping fee.

Im going to approach the guy who measures on my next trip and ask him about one board, just so I understand how they size a board.

what I figured, if a board is 11.5 inches wide, and 119 inches long, that's 12 inch by 10 feet to them., since they don't use a calculator when they are counting board feet, the office gets the slip, they do the multiplication of bf times the price.

and another reason I don't want to stir anything up over 3% difference is that when I purchase things like slides from them, as long as I purchase a box of a dozen at a time, they always give me contractor pricing.(on other items also)

on an order a few years back, I ordered from an internet company and the count was just way off. If it was off by 4 board feet on 200 bf, I could have lived with it.
but it was way off, turns out the boss said the wood picker didn't realize the boards were 10 footers since everything they usually sell is 12 feet. Not sure if I believe him, but I did get a refund.
 
If it is 119" it is a 11' board per wt & Measure and they will enforce that also wet lumber is gross tally when dry it is net and the can only sell by Net legally. Had a LARGE mill hear in my area find that out the expensive way and they are the ones that told me it can only be sold as net. They can be reported to the Dept Of Ag Wt & Measure department and these guys get Mean.
 
We would always block tally not each board when we sold lumber. Measure across the pile in inches length 8,10,13,14,16' and by thickness decided by 144. So let's say you needed 100 bdft we would measure as bunk width is 42" x 96" x 1" = 4,032 in square. Divided by 144 = 28 bdft per layer. So to get 100 bdft we would pull 3.5 layers off the bunk plus one narrow board and call it good. There is a allowed amount to be short according to industry standards.
 
Top