American hardwood lumber grading Q&A series: article no. 1

May 2007
by Bob Sabistina, Grading consultant to the American Hardwood Export Council

This month's article will deal with questions, received during the past couple of months from buyers throughout the world. If you have a question regarding the rules for grading American hardwood lumber or if there is any other topic you would like to see in future articles pertaining to hardwoods from the USA, please contact me at: bshardwoods1@yahoo.com.

Why do I receive so many different quotes and prices for hard maple. I see terms like NO.1&2 White, Unselected, Saps, Natural, etc. Can you please explain?

Hard maple is often sorted for colour and the terms you refer to designate the amount of sapwood or white colour in the board. In order of importance, i.e. cost, they are:

1. Number 1&2 White hard maple: No.1 White requires that both faces and both edges of the clear cuttings must be all sapwood (white). No 2 White requires that one face and both edges of the clear cutting area are sapwood and the reverse face of the clear cutting area is not less than 50% sapwood. These two designations are almost always shipped together. The key to No 1&2 White hard maple is that if there is any heartwood on one face, it must be in the middle of the board away from the edges of the clear cuttings. The grades are the same as the standard NHLA grades, except that the FAS grade will allow 4&5 inch widths provided they are 100% clear.

2. Sap hard maple: This designation only requires that one face of the clear cuttings is sapwood. There could be unlimited heartwood on the reverse face. Sap hard maple will allow a 5 inch FAS board. All other grades are the standard.

3. Unselected hard maple: This is graded as standard, with colour having no bearing on the grade. The full product of the log containing sapwood and heartwood clear cuttings are permitted.

4. Brown hard maple: This designates that most, if not all, of the boards will have a large percentage of heartwood in the clear cuttings. This is an accumulation of what is left after the No 1&2 White and Sap boards have been sorted out. Side A is all sapwood and would represent the better face of No 1&2 White and Sap. Side B is sapwood and heartwood and would represent the poor face of No. 2 White (not less than 50% sapwood) the poor face of Sap (although the entire poor face could be heartwood) and either face of unselected and brown.

I want to point out that there is no difference in quality between the sapwood and the heartwood except for colour. If you have ever seen a basketball court in America, you have seen unselected hard maple. Butcher block tables and cutting boards often use brown hard maple, while the "White" grades are usually reserved for high end furniture, cabinets and mouldings, where that familiar light maple colour is clean and consistent.

We buy FAS red oak that is sold to us 80/20. Can you explain what these numbers mean?

Normally these numbers represent the percentage of FAS grade and Selects or FAS1F grade in the shipment. In this case, 80% of the lumber is FAS and 20% is Selects or FAS1F.

Quite often I am quoted prices based on grades that I cannot find in the NHLA Rule Book, such as Prime and Comsel. Can you explain these?

First let me compliment you for trying to read and apply the NHLA Rule Book. This is no easy task and your efforts will surely be rewarded in the quality of the lumber you purchase. Prime and Comsel are grade names that have evolved over the years primarily for export shipments. They each represent levels of quality in the same regards as the NHLA grades of FAS and No.1 Common. The confusion in receiving pricing for these and all grade names other than the NHLA grades is that they may vary from one supplier to the next. A simple way to deal with these quoted grades is to ask the supplier how do they relate to the written grades from the NHLA. Prime may be a 5 inch and wider allowance for one supplier and a colour sort for another. A good solid relationship between yourself and your suppliers is essential in maintaining the level of price and quality that both parties will be satisfied and successful with.

Why are there no export grades in the NHLA Rule Book?

The NHLA has a set of Standard Grades which are widely taught, published, and readily available. If buyer and seller prefer to deviate from these standards, they can use a common language and virtually write their own grade specifications. It may be as simple as allowing a 7 foot long or a 4 inch wide FAS board. This is done by numerous companies both in our domestic market and the export markets worldwide. In fact, the NHLA encourages its members to use the framework of the rules in this way. This promotes the entrepreneurial spirit of the industry while providing a common language to refer to.

Can you give some easy conversions for moving between the metric system and your system of inches and board feet?

Yes, it can be confusing. Fortunately, almost all exporters are willing to quote prices in cubic metres or even cubic feet, so the quantities of an entire shipment should be no problem. When it comes to calculating the grade of individual boards, a good guesstimate for FAS is 80% and better clear, for NO.1 Com 60% and better clear, and No 2 Com use 50% and better clear. In determining if a board with slight cupping will surface two sides (S2S) to standard surface thickness, a one inch (25.4mm) board must be S2S at 13/16 inch (20.6mm) and a two inch board (50.8mm) must S2S to 44.5mm. All other thicknesses must surface proportionately. Here are some other useful conversion factors:

One inch (1")= 25.4millimetres (mm)
One metre = 3.281 feet
1000 board feet = 2.36 cubic metres (m3)
One cubic metre (m3) = 424 board feet (BF)
One cubic metre (m3) = 35.315 cubic feet (cu ft)
One lineal foot = .3048 metres.

You can fit approximately 12,000 board feet of kiln dried lumber into a typical 40 foot container. This would convert to around 28 to 30 cubic metres, depending on the species, thickness and length distribution.

American Hardwood Export Council
The American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) is the leading international trade association for the US hardwood industry, representing the committed exporters among US hardwood companies and all the major US hardwood production trade associations. AHEC concentrates it efforts on providing architects, specifiers, designers and end-users with technical information on the range of species, products and sources of supply.

AHEC produces a full range of technical publications which are available free of charge by visiting www.ahec-europe.org, www.sustainablehardwoods.info & www.americanredoak.info or by faxing (44) 20 7626 4222.
For more press information, please contact: Lucy Peacock/Melissa Green, lucy.peacock@ahec.co.uk/melissa.green@ahec.co.uk.