One of the oldest crafts in the world, woodworking is known to be a gratifying hobby that can be passed on through generations. If you are about to plunge into the age-old hobby of wood crafting, here are some easy hacks that will help you find the best rough-cut lumber for your upcoming project!
From learning more about rough-cut lumber to buying lumber, there is a lot left to unravel…
The idea of buying rough-cut lumber is to abstain from finished lumber and indulge in the story of crafting and customizing. Rough-cut not only gives you the liberty to mill the lumber yourself with careful crafting, but it is also more affordable than the surfaced product.
While rough-cut lumber is one of the best buys for your woodworking journey, there are a few tips and tricks that you must keep in mind before heading to any lumber company.
● Choose Thicker Planks:
Many hardwood lumber companies sell rough-cut lumber in various thicknesses. Make sure you opt for a board at least ¼" thicker than the final dimension, considering the material removed by the planer and jointer.
One must also keep in mind that buying a 2" board and resawing it into a 1" board won't save you any money.
● Check Sticker Stains:
While your boards are drying, stickers are spacers used as board separators. These stickers may create shadow-like stains. While these stains appear to be on the surface, they might penetrate deeper than 18" into the wood. This, in turn, heightens the possibility of them being visible even after planing.
Since these stickers might stain the deeper layers of wood, make sure you don’t neglect them!
● Test with Water:
Before rough-cut lumber reaches the yard, most of it is run through a sander or planer on both sides. This process is called hit-and-miss and is used to smooth out the surface to the point that the grain of the lumber is visible.
However, two boards that are similar in color and the same bin may differ significantly in color after the topcoat application. In conclusion, if the color of the lumber boards is important, you can spray some water to unravel any challenges like that.
● Avoid Twisted Lumber Boards:
While minor warping can be resolved in the milling process, bigger bends and twists are a result of internal forces that make the twist constant. It doesn't matter how much material you try to remove; this bend in wood is there to stay!
However, if you are looking for shorter boards, you can work with lumber boards with more significant bends.
● Buy Extra:
Make sure you are buying extra lumber to avoid the entire process of matching the colors, grain of the boards, etc. Purchasing and milling one extra full board is definitely a good idea.
There might be a lot of factors why people might find it challenging to buy rough-cut lumber. These reasons include the variety of species available, gaining access, especially for people new to woodworking, etc.
We hope these tricks will help you get the best deal in the category of rough-cut lumber.
Where to Buy Rough-cut Lumber?
If you’re looking to buy rough-cut lumber, then we have just what you are looking for.
We house the most premium quality lumber, both surfaced and rough-cut, in a variety of species and get them delivered right to your doorstep without cutting corners. Explore now.
Happy Woodworking!
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