Department of ata Bank for Short-Lengt 

Forest Service ed Oak Lumber 

Northeastern Forest 

Experiment Station 

Research Paper NE-695 Janice K. Wiedenbeck 

Charles J. Gatchell 

Elizabeth S. Walker 
Abstract 

This data bank for short-length lumber (less than 8 feet long) conta~ns information 

on board outlines and defect size and quality for 426 414-inch-thick red oak boards. 

The Selects, 1 Common, 2A Common, and 3A Common grades are represented in 

the data bank. These boards are too short to be FAS. The data bank provides the 

kind of detailed lumber description that is required as input by computer programs 

that analyze rough mill yield. The data bank format provides more information 

than do other available board data sets. For Selects grade boards, the qualifying 

back-face rule used to grade the board is noted. For the other board grades, the 

percentage of the board-surface measure found in the grading cuttings and the 

number of cuttings used to determine the grade are given. Tables are included 

that list the boards by grade, width, length, and quality. These can be used to 

select subsamples when boards of specified sizes or quality levels are needed for 

a study. 

The Authors 

JANICE K. WIEDENBECK is a research forest products technologist and Project 

Leader with the Noriheastern Forest Experiment Station's Advanced Hardwood 

Processing and Technical Resource Center at Princeton, West Virginia. She 

received a B.S. degree in forestry from the University of Michigan in 1980, and 

M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in forest products in 1988 and 1992, respectively, from 

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She was employed by a major 

southern forest products manufacturer, first as a forestry crew leader, then as a 

sawmill quality supervisor and sawmill and dry kiln production supervisor from 1980 

to 1986. She is currently engaged in research on utilization opportunities for 

short-length hardwood lumber and simulation modeling to assess the potential 

impacts of new technologies and production control strategies on productivity and 

profitability. 

CHARLES J. GATCHELL is a research forest products technologist with the 

Northeastern Forest Experiment Station's Advanced Hardwood Processing and 

Technical Resource Center at Princeton, West Virginia. He received a B.S. degree 

in forestry in 1955 from the University of Massachusetts and an M.S. degree in 

wood-products engineering in 1961 from the New York State College of Forestry at 

Syrcause University. From 1965 to 1989, he served as Project Leader of 

Princeton's utilization research work unit and conducted research on wood used in 

highway construction and on the conversion of small-diameter logs and low-grade 

lumber to rough-dimension furniture parts. He is currently engaged in research on 

yields of low-grade lumber from gang ripping and yields for solid wood furniture 

and cabinets. 

ELIZABETH S. WALKER is a computer programmer with the Northeastern Station 

at Princeton, West Virginia. She received a B.S. degree in mathematics and 

computer science from Concord College in 1985 and joined the USDA Forest 

Service in 1988. She is currently engaged in research on computer simulation of 

the secondary processing of hardwood lumber. 

Manuscript received for publication 11 March 1994 

USDA FOREST SERVICE 

5 RADNOR CORP CTR STE 200 

PO BOX 6775 

RADNOR. PA 19087-4585 

October 1994 
Introduction company's sawmills. We obtained dry lumber from this 

company. 

More and more computer software tools are becoming 

available that are designed for use in analyzing hardwood 

lumber cut-up operations. For these tools to yield accurate 

and reliable results, accurate data inputs are required. 

One of the primary data requirements of these programs is 

a detailed lumber description. 

The data in this publication are for short (less than 8 feet 

long), 414, red oak lumber. These data were collected as 

part of a larger study of the effects of lumber length on 

rough-mill productivity and profitability (Wiedenbeck 1992, 

1993). At present, most eastern hardwood sawmills produce 

little lumber less than 8 feet long. Potential short-length 

lumber generated in the process of sawing longer logs 

frequently is converted into relatively low-value hardwood 

chips. The short lumber is chipped due to a lack of demand. 

Before secondary hardwood processors will accept 

short-length lumber, several obstacles must be overcome. 

These include cutting-yield uncertainties, handling 

problems and costs, and the furniture industry's lack of 

experience with short lumber (Wengert et al. 1986). The 

short-length data bank described here can be used by 

hardwood lumber processors to predict short-lumber yield 

and processing costs with greater accuracy than could be 

obtained by other means. 

The short-lumber data bank is a companion to the "1992 

Data Bank for Red Oak Lumber" developed by Gatchell et 

al. (1992b). The reader should refer to this publication for a 

more complete description of our grading procedures. The 

boards in both data sets were graded according to National 

Hardwood Lumber Association's "Rules for the Measurement 

and Inspection of Hardwood & Cypress" (NHLA 1990). A 

several-stage process was used to ensure grading accuracy. 

The data bank format used for these short boards is the 

same as that used by Gatchell et al. (1992b). 

We are making both data sets available from a single 

source, the USDA Forest Service's Northeastern Forest 

Experiment Station's Laboratory at Princeton, West 

Virginia. By pooling these lumber data and making them 

readily available, we hope that potential users of 

yield-analysis programs will no longer be discouraged from 

using these tools due to lumber data availability problems. 

Procedure 

Sampling 

Short-length red oak boards are scarce in most areas due 

to limited demand for lumber less than 8 feet long. Due to 

this scarcity we had to make special arrangements with 

four mills to obtain our short-lumber sample. 

Approximately 18 percent of the 426 boards in the sample 

were obtained from a southwest Virginia hardwood sawmill 

that commonly cuts short lumber. This short lumber is 

processed by a dimension plant that is owned by the same 

company. The lumber is hand stacked at the sawmill then 

bound with plastic strapping to prevent spillage during 

shipping and handling. It is dried at another of the 

Twenty-eight percent of the boards in the data bank were 

produced by another southwest Virginia sawmill and a 

southern West Virginia sawmill. Both of these mills typically 

limit their production of lumber less than 8 feet long. We 

shipped this short lumber to a local cabinet manufacturer frjr 

drying because, as part of our larger study (Wiedenbeck 

1992), we wanted to compare the rough-part yield of this 

short lumber with that of longer lumber dried by the same mill. 

The remaining short boards were obtained from a northern 

West Virginia dry kilnlconcentration yard operation. These 

dry boards were received in two shipments and represent 

the short-lumber production of several hardwood sawmills. 

Lumber Grading 

All of the dried lumber was brought to the Brooks Forest 

Products Center at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State 

University where it was skip-planed and the dimensions 

and defects of the boards were manually recorded. For 

grading purposes, the lumber was considered rough 

lumber. We used the NHLA's (1990) Speciai Kiln Dried 

Rule. This rule counts all defects (including defects 

associated with drying). The use of the Special Kiln Dried 

Rule is discussed in Gatchell et al. (1992b). 

The boards were computer graded using the ReGS 

program (Gatchell et al. 1992a). The computer-derived 

grades were checked manually using to-scale plots of the 

boards. In cases where the two grades were different, the 

manually derived grade was used. While ReGS provided 

an excellent base for determining the correct grade, 

several inherent problems remain in computerized grading 

(Gatchell et al. 1992a,b). 

Lumber Defects 

The short-lumber data bank, like the "1992 Data Bank for 

Red Oak Lumber", emphasizes naturally occurring defects 

(Table 1). Mechanical or handling-induced defects were 

not included in the data records for these boards. 

Table 1 .--Board defects and code numbers 

Defect 

Defect code 

Voida 2 

Pith 3 

Decay 4 

Shake 5 

Wanelscant wood thickness 8 

or both, owing to bark 

Bark pocket 10 

Hole 11 

Unsound knot 12 

Sound knot 15 

Split 24 

aThe space between the edge of the board and the 

smallest rectangle enclosing the board caused by crook, 

taper, and differential shrinkage. 
Stain is a defect that is recognized and interpreted 

differently by different people (Huber et al. 1990). 

According to the NHLA grading rules, "stain" denotes "the 

initial evidences of decay." Stain that will su-rface out or 

that occurs only on the sound face of a cutting is allowed. 

Stain that will not surface out, is darker in color, and more 

pervasive can be considered "incipient decay." During 

defect mapping, very light stain that would surface out was 

ignored. Heavy stain was considered "incipient decay" but 

was coded as "decay" since our original codes did not 

include the "incipient decay" category. 

The distinction between checks and splits and the manner 

in which they were recorded were similar to the treatment 

used in the "1992 Data Bank for Red Oak Lumber," any 

check that would not surface out was defined as a split. 

When the short-lumber mapping project began, our aim 

was to map the boards so that simulated yield studies 

using computerized cut-up routines could be performed 

and compared with simulated yields from longer length 

lumber. With this objective in mind, we defined our defect 

categories. For this reason we tended to lump defects 

together that were split out by Gatchell et al. (1992b). For 

example, we had one category called "holes" rather than 

several size-based hole categories. Also, we did not have 

a category for "bud trace with bark." 

Like the "1992 Data Bank for Red Oak Lumber," this is a 

straight-board data bank. Boards with taper or crook 

exceeding one-quarter inch are not included. This is not a 

serious limitation since it is uncommon for short boards to 

crook in excess of one-quarter inch during drying. 

Non-straight boards were excluded because programs for 

automatically grading hardwood lumber cannot grade these 

boards accurately. 

Data Bank Format 

The format used in the data bank is detailed in Figure 1. 

The first line of data given for each board contains the 

NHLA grade as determined by ReGS, the board number, 

the qualifying rule used in grading a Selects board 

(1 SB=sound back Selects, 1 CB=1 Common back Selects; 

this variable is "0 for all other grades), and the total 

number of defects on the board. 

The second line of data for each board contains the 

measured board width in quarter inches ("20" = 2014 or 5 

inches wide). This is used to determine the board-surface 

measure. This width is obtained by measuring board width 

one-third the length of the piece in from the narrow end of 

the board (NHLA 1990). This line also contains variables 

that indicate the percentage of the board-surface measure 

found in the grading cuttings and the number of cuttings 

used to determine the grade (these are' excluded for the 

Selects grade). 

The third data line for each board (Fig.1) contains the Y-X 

coordinates in 114-inch units of the lower left and upper 

right corners of the smallest rectangle containing the 

board. For rectangular boards, the measured width given 

in the second line and the upper Y value will be the same. 

For boards with slight taper or crook, there will be a 

one-quarter inch difference between these two values 

(e.g., 20 versus 21 in Figure 1). 

Each succeeding line describes a specific defect or defect 

segment (linearly oriented defects frequently are broken up 

into multiple-defect segments). These data lines contain 

the Y-X coordinates of the lower left and upper right 

corners of the defect, a "1" or "2 which indicates which 

board face the defect is located on, and a number that 

indicates the defect type. 

Users of the data bank will want to make certain that their 

data conversion programs properly handle the void and 

pith defects (defect types "2" and "3", respectively). Void 

is the area that falls outside the board and inside the 

enclosing rectangle; it appears on both faces. Pith 

limitations apply not only to pith that appears on the 

surface- of the wood but also to "boxed" pith. Therefore, 

like void, pith must be viewed as if it occurs on both faces. 

However, in the data bank, these defects are indexed on 

only one face (the coordinates would be the same on the 

opposing face). This must be accounted for in grading 

and processing computer programs (Gatchell et al. 

1992b). 

Data Bank Overview 

There are 426 short boards less than 8 feet long in the 

short-length red oak lumber data bank. These boards are 

listed in the grade-based Tables 3-6 in the Appendix. 

Board numbers were assigned sequentially based on 

board width. The tables contain information on board 

number, width, length, clear-face cutting area and the 

number of grading cuttings, grade, and surface measure. 

All widths and lengths were measured to the nearest 

one-quarter inch. 

For boards with surface measures that are halfway 

between whole feet (e.g., 2.5) we have used the lower 

surface measure to determine the grade of the board (e.g., 

SM=2 rather than SM=3). Using the lower surface 

measure often results in a higher grade (Gatchell et al. 

1992b). 

The data bank contains the following short-length boards in 

the Selects, 1 Common, 2A Common, and 3A Common 

NHLA grades: 

Number 

Grade of boards Board feet 

Selects 42 132 

1 Common 182 500 

2A Common 153 375 

3A Common 49 133 

When these short boards are added to the "1992 Data 

Bank for Red Oak Lumber," 251 Selects boards, 773 No. 1 

Common boards, 733 2A Common boards, and 49 3A 

Common boards are now available to users through the 

Northeastern Forest Experiment Station's Laboratory at 

Princeton, West Virginia. 
GRADE OSLa BOARD NUMBER 8 lsBb TOTAL NUMBER OF DEFECTS 11 

MEASURED BOARD WIDTH 20' GRADING: 0-od 

0-0 21 -295e 

0-216 1-295' lg 2h 

1-290 2-295 1 12 

20-287 21-295 1 24 

8-293 9-295 1 24 

20-62 21-216 2 2 

5-0 6-14 2 24 

15-0 16-14 2 24 

7-285 20-295 2 24 

2-293 6-295 2 24 

16-165 18-166 2 15 

0-0 1-62 2 2 

a NHLA grade - Grades are represented as follows: 

OFS = FAS 

OSL = Selects 

1C = 

2C = 

3C = 

No. 1 Common 

No. 2A Common 

No. 3A Common 

For Selects grade lumber this indicates the type of back on the board: 1 SB indicates 

a sound back Selects, ICB indicates a I Common back Selects. 

' All measurements are in 114-inch units. 

Percent of board surface measure and number of grading cuttings (0-0 for Selects). 

Lower left (left column) and upper right corner (right column) coordinates of rectangle enclosing 

the board (114-inch units); Y coordinate is first in each column set. 

' Defect lower left and upper right corner coordinates; Y coordinate is first. 

g Board face: 1 or 2. 

Defect code (see Table 1). 

Figure 1 .--Format for short-lumber data bank. 

Width 

Mean, median, and mode widths for the short boards in this 

data bank are given as follows: 

Central Selects 1 Common 2A Common 3A Common 

tendency (42 boards) (1 82 boards) (1 50 boards) (49 boards) 

Mean 6.25 7.00 6.25 6.75 

Median 6.25 6.75 6.00 6.50 

Since board and defect dimensions were measured in 

quarter-inch increments, the mean width figures are 

rounded to the nearest quarter inch. 

Figures 2 through 5 are histograms that depict the number 

of boards in each NHLA lumber width class for each of the 

four NHLA lumber grades contained in this data bank. 

Note that these width classes have, as a minimum, the 

width indicated on the X-axis of the histogram. Thus, the 

4-inch-width class includes all boards with measured 

widths of 4, 4-1/4, 4-112, and 4-314 inches. 

We sorted our widths this way to conform with the NHLA's 

classification system that specifies minimum widths (with 

exceptions) for each grade. Our grade-based groupings 

do not contain undersize (scant width) boards. The 

minimum-width board in our Selects data is 4 inches and 

the minimum-width boards in our 1 Common, 2 Common, 

and 3A Common data are 3 inches. NHLA grading rules 

allow up to 10 percent of the boards in a load of lumber to 

be one-quarter inch scant of the stated minimum width for 

the grade. For a discussion on how to include scant-width 

boards in a study sample, see Gatchell et al. (1992b). 

Board Lengths 

Since lumber shorter than 8 feet long cannot qualify for the 

FAS and FAS-I-Face grades, these grades are not 

included in the data bank. The size distribution for 

Selects, 1 Common, 2A Common, and 3A Common short 

lumber is given in Table 2. Standard lengths are obtained 

by truncating the board's length to the whole foot. 
However, boards that are only one-quarter inch shy of the 

next whole foot are rounded to the higher standard length. 

As was the case for the "1 992 Data Bank for Red Oak 

Lumber," few odd-length boards were found. This is 

largely a function of the fact that most sawmill trim saws 

are set to trim even lengths only. The majority of the 

5-foot-long boards in the 1 Common and 2A Common data 

sets were mismanufactured 6-foot-long boards (no more 

than 2 inches shy of 6 feet). 

Why We Used the Special Kiln Dried Rule 

The Special Kiln Dried Rule used to grade these data Sank 

boards is a better predictor of a board's utility since it does 

not ignore defects imposed during drying. The effects of 

drying on defect evaluation as well as differences between 

the Standard and Special Kiln Dried Rules (NHLA 1990) 

are detailed in Gatchell et al. (199213). 

Effects of Stain on Grade 

Short-length lumber is frequently mishandled because it 

tends to be one of the lowest priority items in a mill's 

inventory. It is not uncommon for short lumber to sit, 

deadpiled, on the yard for more than a week before it is 

sticker-stacked for drying. Many species of lumber will 

stain badly when stickering is delayed, and red oak is one 

of the most stain-prone species. 

Thirty-eight percent of the boards in our short-lumber 

sample contained stain when we received them. Forty-one 

percent of the boards with stain were downgraded because 

of the stain (16 percent of all boards). Nine percent of the 

stained boards lost two or three grades due to stain. 

Two of our short-lumber sources badly mishandled the 

lumber; more than half of the lumber from these sources 

was stained. Stain affected 25 to 30 percent of the boards 

from our other two sources. This sample was collected 

during the early summer when lumber is most prone to 

staining. However, even these lower stain rates are 

unacceptably high. 

Short boards are easily ignored on the yard because they 

are in low demand. When such boards are ignored for 

several days, their quality begins to deteriorate. When the 

lumber is subsequently received by a customer (e.g., a 

rough-mill operation), the deterioration is noted and the 

customer is even less likely to accept short lumber in the 

future. Rather than expanding the market for short lumber, 

this kind of mishandling likely will have the opposite effect. 

Because stain can be avoided with proper handling and our 

goal is to provide data,on well-manufactured, well-dried 

lurnber for users, we dropped the stain defect from the 

data bank. 

Effectiveness of NHLA Grade Rules in 

Assigning Relative Values to Short Boards 

Our work with short lumber leads us to question the value 

of the NHLA grading rules as predictors of the potential 

yield of short lumber. There are many instances where the 

NHLA grades do not accurately reflect the potential utility 

of a given short board. While the relative value of a board 

is not solely a function of yield, the relationship between 

board value and yield is indisputable. 

There are several striking grade-yield inconsistencies that 

seem to favor the consumer of short lumber. The most 

" 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 

Board Width Class (inches) 

Figure 2.--Selects width distribution. 
Board Width Class (inches) 

Figure 3.--No. 1 Common width distribution. 

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 

Board Width Class (inches) 

Figure 4.--No. 2A Common width distribution. 

U 

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 

Board Width Class (inches) 

Figure 5.--No. 3A Common width distribution. 
Table 2.--Size distribution of short, Selects, 1 Common, 2A Common, 

and 3A Common boards 

Standard 

length Width (inches) Number of 

(feet) 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Total boardfeet 

- - - - - - - - Number of boards - - - - - - - - 

Selects 

6 -6815451 - 39 119 

7 - - - - 3 - - - - - 3 13 

Total -6815751 - 42 132 

1 Common 

4 - -133021 8 5 6 3 - 86 200 

5 -144131 -2-- 25 73 

6 181629 5 5 13 1 - 69 21 7 

7 - - -11--- 2 10 

Total 1 9 33 64 39 14 7 11 4 - 182 500 

No. 2A Common 

4 121 2826 11 3 - - 1 - 9 1 175 

5 -245211 --- 15 38 

6 2211 911 631 - 1 46 157 

7 --- -I----- 1 5 

Total 3 25 43 40 25 10 4 1 1 1 153 375 

No. 3A Common 

4 -441293---- 32 74 

5 -1-11 ---- 3 8 

6 --33422--- 14 5 1 

7 ---------- 0 0 

Total - 5 71613 6 2 - - - 49 133 

obvious of these is the length limitation in the upper 

grades. A totally clear, 7-foot-long board can never be 

graded as an FAS. However, an 8-foot-long board with a 

defect at the 7-foot mark that runs from one edge to the 

other (across the width) will make the FAS grade so long 

as the first-foot rule is met. This is true despite the fact the 

defect will render the last foot of the board unusable. 

Similarly, boards under 6 feet in length, no matter how 

clear, can be graded no higher than 1 Common. 

Other inconsistencies that we have observed relate to 

surface measure-based constraints in the NHLA grade 

rules. For instance, any board with less than 18 cutting 

units (surface measure = 1) that contains any type and 

size of defect on either face can be graded no higher than 

a 2A Common. That same board must have at least 66.7 

percent in clear-face cuttings to be graded other than a 

3A Common. For larger boards, 66.7 is a sufficient 

clear-face cutting percentage to qualify for 1 Common 

(NHLA 1990). In fact, it is possible for a board to have 

120 percent of its surface measure in clear-face cuttings 

and be graded 2A Common owing to a small defect on 

either face. 

Summary 

This publication provides details on 426 short-length (less 

than 8 feet long) red oak boards. In combination, this 

short-lumber data bank and the "1 992 Data Bank for Red 

Oak Lumber" (Gatchell et al. 1992b) contain 251 Selects 

boards, 773 No. 1 Common boards, 733 2A Common 

boards, and 49 3A Common boards: We are making both 

data sets available from the USDA Forest Service's 

Northeastern Forest Experiment Station's Laboratory in 

Princeton, West Virginia. 

Three Appalachian region sawmills and an Appalachian 

region concentration yard operation provided us with the 

short lumber detailed in thls publication. We used the 

NHLA's Special Kiln Dried Rule (1990) to grade the boards. 

Board grades were determined both manually and with the 

ReGS computer program (Gatchell et al. 1992a). All of the 

boards in this data bank are straight (less than one-half 

inch of crook), well-manufactured boards. 

Short-length lumber is frequently mishandled; it is not 

uncommon for short lumber to sit deadpiled on the yard for 
more than a week before it is sticker-stacked for drying. 

This type of treatment causes boards to stain. Thirty-eight 

percent of the boards in our short-board sample originally 

contained stain. Since stain can be avoided with proper 

handling and our goal is to provide data on 

well-manufactured lumber, we dropped the stain defect 

from these boards. 

The data bank format provides more information than other 

available board data sets. For Selects grade boards, the 

qualifying back-face rule used in grading the board is 

noted. For the other board grades, the percentage of the 

board-surface measure found in the grading cuttings and 

the number of cuttings used to determine the grade are 

given. Two width measurements are given for each board: 

the width of the rectangle that encloses the board and the 

grading width. The Appendix includes look-up tables that 

l~st the boards by grade, width, length, and quality. These 

tables can be used to select subsamples when boards of 

specified sizes or quality levels are needed for a study. 

Acknowledgment 

The lumber contained in the data bank was collected for a 

short lumber utilization research study conducted by the 

primary hardwood processing and products research work 

unit, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, Blacksburg, 

VA. The authors wish to thank Mr. Philip A. Araman, 

Project Leader, for his support and guidance of the senior 

author, Janice K. Wiedenbeck, who made her contributions 

as a student, and later, as a scientist in his work unit. 

Literature Cited 

Gatchell, Charles; Klinkhachorn, Powsiri; Kothari, Ravi. 

1992a. ReGS--a realistic grading system. Forest 

Products Journal. @(I 0): 37-40. 

Gatchell, Charles J.: Wiedenbeck, Janice K.; Walker, 

Elizabeth S. 1992b. 1992 data bank for red oak 

lumber. Res. Pap. NE-669. Radnor, PA: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern 

Forest Experiment Station. 47 p. 

Huber, Henry, A.; Ruddell, Steve; McMillirT, Charles W. 

1990. Industry standards for recognition of marginal 

wood defects. Forest Products Journal. 40(3): 30-34. 

National Hardwood Lumber Association. 1990. Rules for 

the measurement andcinspection of hardwood & 

cypress lumber. Memphis, TN: National Hardwood 

Lumber Association. 

Wengert, E. M.; Rice, R. W.; Schroeder, J. G. 1986. 

Development of grading systems for short length 

lumber. Final report to the USDA Forest Service, 

Southeastern Forest Experiment Station. Blacksburg, 

VA: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. 

59 p. 

Wiedenbeck, Janice K. 1992. The potential for short 

length lumber in the furniture and cabinet 

industries. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Polytechnic 

Institute and State University. 255 p. Ph.D. dissertation. 

Wiedenbeck, Janice K. 1993. Short lumber: concept and 

acceptance. In: Proceedings, 21st annual symposium 

of the Hardwood Research Council. Memphis, TN: 

National Hardwood Lumber Association: 81-91. 
Appendix 

Table 3.--Board information report for short, Selects lumber 

Board 

number 

Measured 

width 

(inches) 

Length 

(inches) 

72.75 

72.75 

72.75 

74.75 

76.50 

72.75 

72.75 

73.75 

75.00 

72.50 

72.75 

72.75 

72.75 

73.25 

72.50 

72.75 

72.75 

72.75 

72.75 

72.75 

79.00 

72.75 

83.25 

72.75 

72.75 

72.75 

74.25 

74.25 

74.50 

72.75 

87.25 

84.50 

72.75 

72.75 

81 .OO 

85.00 

72.50 

72.75 

74.25 

76.25 

72.75 

72.75 

Grade 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Seiects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Selects 

Type of 

back face 

1 C back 

1 C back 

I C back 

1 C back 

1 C back 

1 C back 

1C back 

1C back 

1 C back 

1 C back 

1C back 

1 C back 

1 C back 

1 C back 

1 C back 

1 C back 

1 C back 

1 C back 

1 C back 

1C back 

1C back 

1C back 

1 C back 

IC back 

1C back 

1 C back 

1 C back 

1 C back 

1 C back 

1 C back 

1C back 

1C back 

1 C back 

1C back 

1 C back 

1C back 

1 C back 

1 C back 

1C back 

1 C back 

1C back 

1 C back 

Surface Larger 

measure SM grade 

(feet) (a) 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 or 3 2A 

2 or 3 24 

2or3 2A 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3or4 Selects 

4 

4 

4 

4 

4 

5 

4 

4 

4 

4 

4 

6 

(a) When board surface measure is halfway between two whole feet, the grade is determined with the 

smaller surface measure. Grades in this column are determined with the larger surface measure. 
Table 4.--Board information report for short, No. 1 Common lumber 

Measured Percent surface Surface Larger 

Board width Length measure & number measure SM grade 

number (inches) (inches) of cuttings Grade (a) (feet) (b) 

Continued 
Table 4.--Continued 

Measured Percent surface Surface Larger 

Board width Length measure & number measure SM grade 

number (inches) (inches) of cuttings Grade (a) (feet) (b) 

Continued 
Table 4.--Continued 

Measured Percent surface Surface Larger 

Board width Length measure & number measure SM grade 

number (inches) (inches) of cuttings Grade (a) (feet) (b) 

Continued 
Table 4.-Continued 

Board 

number 

Measured 

width 

(inches) 

Length 

(inches) 

Percent surface 

measure & number 

of cuttings Grade 

87-1 1 C 

110-2 1 C 

70-1 1 C 

88-1 1 C 

82- 1 1 C 

77-1 1 C 

99-2 1 C 

96-1 1 C 

96-2 1 C 

83-2 1 C 

71 -1 1 C 

78-1 1 C 

87-1 1 C 

72-1 1 C 

84-2 1 C 

84-1 1 C 

91-1 1 C 

76-1 1 C 

82-2 1 C 

72-1 1 C 

79-2 1 C 

79-1 1 C 

78-1 1 C 

75-2 I C 

96-1 1 C 

81 -2 1 C 

77-2 1 C 

93-1 1 C 

72-1 1 C 

76-3 1 C 

102-1 1 C 

70-1 1 C 

99-1 1 C 

97-2 1 C 

92-1 1 C 

94-2 1 C 

81-2 1 C 

79-2 1 C 

77-2 1 C 

69-2 1 C 

71 -2 1 C 

87-2 1 C 

80-2 1 C 

83-2 1 C 

84-1 1 C 

82-2 1 C 

Surface Larger 

measure SM grade 

(a) (feet) (b) 

3 

3 

4 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

4 

3 

3 

3 

4 

4 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

4 

4 

4 

4 

3 

3 

3 

3 

5 

6 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

4 

4 

5 

3 or 4 2A 

5 

5 

4 

4 

4 

4 

6 

(a) Graded with program REGS. Contains all cuttings up to the maximum allowed for the grade. 

(b) When board surface measure is halfway between consecutive standard feet, the minimum 

and maximum grades are determined with the smaller surface measure. Grades in this column 

are determined with the larger surface measure. 
Table 5.--Board information report for short, No. 2A Common lumber 

Measured Percent surface Surface Larger 

Board width Length measure & number measure SM grade 

number (inches) (inches) of cuttings Grade (a) (feet) (b) 

Continued 
Table 5.--Continued 

Measured Percent surface Surface Larger 

Board width Length measure & number measure SM grade 

number (inches) (inches) of cuttings Grade (a) (feet) (b) 

Continued 

14 
Table 5.--Continued 

Measured Percent surface Surface Larger 

Board width Length measure & number measure SM grade 

number (inches) (inches) of cuttings Grade (a) (feet) (b) 

(a) Graded with program REGS. Contains all cuttings up to the maximum allowed for the grade. 

(b) When board surface measure is halfway between consecutive standard feet, the minimum and 

maximum grades are determined with the smaller surface measure. Grades in this column are 

determined with the larger surface measure. 
Table 6.--Board information report for short, No. 3A Common lumber 

Measured Percent surface Surface Larger 

Board width Length measure & number measure SM grade 

number ' (inches) (inches) of cuttings Grade (a) (feet) (b) 

1 or2 Below grade 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

3 

2 

3 

2 

3 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

3 

2 

2 

3 

2 

3 

3 

2 

2 

2 

3 or 4 3A 

4 

4 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

4 

3 

3 

3 

4 

3 

4 

5 

5 

(a) Graded with program REGS. Contains all cuttings up to the maximum allowed for the'grade. 

(b) When board surface measure is halfway between consecutive standard feet, the minimum and 

maximum grades are determined with the smaller surface measure. Grades in this column 

are determined with the larger surface measure. 
Wiedenbeck, Janice K.; Gatchell, Charles J.; Walker, Elizabeth S. 1994. 

Data bank for short-length red oak lumber. Res. Pap. NE-695. Radnor, PA: 

US. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest 

Experiment Station. 16 p. 

This data bank for short-length lumber (less than 8 feet long) contains information 

on board outlines and defect size and quality for 426 414-inch-thick red oak 

boards. The Selects, 1 Common, 2A Common, and 3A Common grades are 

represented in the data bank. The data bank provides the kind of detailed lumber 

description that is required as input by computer programs that analyze rough mill 

yield. 

Keywords: Lumber defects, computer-yield simulation programs, lumber grades, 

lumber size 

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