Popular Woodworking 2003-08 № 135, страница 53

extra board feet of that species to sell. They'll probably offer it to you at a great price, too.

Don't know if there's a club in your area? Go to betterwood-working.com/woodworking_clubs. htm to find one near you. We highly recommend joining a club.

Mobile Mills

There are, of course, thousands of board feet of lumber outside every window. And whenever Mother Nature is roused, the downed trees in your neighborhood are a potential gold mine of wide, clear stock. It's just a mat

ter of first moving the "bole" -the straight part of the trunk below the branches that yields clear and stable wood. Moving the bole is perhaps the most difficult task.

Then you have to find someone to mill the logs into suitable thicknesses for drying. Luckily, this is pretty easy. Wood-Mizer Products Inc., which manufactures portable band-saw mills, maintains a list of sawyers who perform custom-cutting. Contact Wood-Mizer at woodmizer.com or 800-553-0182. In addition to Wood-Mizer owners, there are probably other sawyers in your area who will do the job. Check with your local woodworking club (another good reason to join).

Finally, you have to learn how to properly sticker your green wood for seasoning. It's not rocket science, but there are some rules to follow. For the basics, check out the "Select Articles" area of our web site.

Farmers with Barns

There are farmers out there with barns full of lumber. And there are garages stacked high with premium wood left behind by de-

HARDWOOD LUMBER GRADES: THE BASICS

When you buy wood at a lumberyard, it has been graded - essentially separated into different bins based on how many defects are in each board.The fewer the defects, the more expensive the board. Grading hardwood lumber is a tricky skill with rules set by the National Hardwood Lumber Association. (Grading softwood is different; these rules do not apply.)

Here are some of the basic guidelines graders follow as they classify each board.

FIRSTS: Premium boards that are at least 6" wide, 8' long and 91²/3 percent clear of defects.

SECONDS: Premium boards are at least 6" wide, 8' long and 81²/3 percent clear of defects.

FAS: The two grades above are typically combined into one grade called FAS, or "firsts and seconds," which must be at least 81²/3 percent clear of defects.

FAS 1-FACE: One face must meet the minimum requirements of FAS; the second face cannot be below No. 1 common.

SELECTS: While not an "official" grade, this refers to boards that are at least 4" wide, 6' long and with one face that meets the FAS 1-FACE requirements. Essentially, these are good clear boards that are too narrow or too short to fit in the above grades. This and the FAS grades are good choices for nice furniture.

No. 1 COMMON: Boards that are at least 3" wide, 4' long and 66²/3 percent clear of defects.

No. 2 COMMON: Boards that are at least 3" wide, 4' long and 50 percent clear of defects.

NOTE: There are exceptions to these rules. For example: walnut, butternut and all quartersawn woods can be 5" wide instead of 6" wide and still qualify for FAS.

STAIRCASE SLIP-UP

Duncan Alldis (now retired) and a friend had a workshop in Croydon, Surrey, England. One day, a friend of his son stopped by and asked if Alldis would be interested in the parts from an old three-flight mahogany staircase.The young man had been hired to remove and dispose of the staircase, and he thought Alldis might like to buy the parts he salvaged from the job.

Alldis often used mahogany in his shop. So he calculated its value and told the (now smiling) young man how much he could offer.

The next day the young man arrived at Alldis's workshop with a pile of stairs. Alldis took one look at the wood and knew it wasn't mahogany. Closer examination verified this fact and the young man, noticing Alldis's frown, asked if he still wanted the wood.

Alldis said he would take the wood but also said that the price would have to be recalculated.The young man told Alldis that any money would be appreciated. You can imagine the young man's surprise when Alldis handed him the original payment and told him he would need a few days to work out an additional payment.

Once cleaned, each of the handmade staircase's treads amounted to a beautiful 2" x 8" x 32"-long piece of 100-year-old Burmese teak. The "mahogany" staircase quickly became the most glorious stack of Burmese teak Alldis had ever seen.

—KG

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