local mess up

[Tom Bainbridge]

my local timber merchant (lumber yard) a regional supplier was bought out by one of the big nationals some years ago, until a few weeks ago they traded under the original management and logos

and continued to use their original suppliers. finnforest, normally they sold "2nds" and "3rds"

a few weeks ago....... there was a full rebrand

this morning i felt the effects. their new delivery of 2000 feet of 2x2 PAR (planed all round) is stated as "5ths" from the national firm's in house supplier

it isnt even 5ths. hell ive seen better firewood. i can buy straighter bannanas at the supermarket

structural stress graded carcassing timber is FAR BETTER quality

[newman]

perhaps a sign of the times...
I noticed the lumber around here going to hell too.


"straighter bannanas" LOL :)

[mreynolds]

When I was a lot younger I built a Cal-Tex lumber mill. I assumed they were owned by Americans till one of the higher ups told me different. They are (then anyway) owned by the Japanese. All the good stuff went there. We git the rest of it. That was thirty years ago and it has gotten worse since then.
They even told me that Godzilla tears a Cal-Tex mill down in one of the old movies from the sixties so I guess it has been that way for a while.

[jimAKAblue]

Mike, I agree, the lumber does suck here in TX.

They use way too much of the good stuff for fences. Texans love fences.

[dave_k]

They are (then anyway) owned by the Japanese. All the good stuff went there. We git the rest of it.

I remember going to Vancouver 30 years ago, looking out across English Bay and seeing ships piled high with logs. I was told these ships were japanese ships that had sawmills on board and by the time they reached japan the logs would be processed into dimension lumber. I was also told that the japanese would accept nothing but the best material, the Americans got second best and we got what was left.

I have no problem selling lumber to anyone but what bothers me is that we sell the logs instead of selling a finished product. It doesn't matter whether the seller can make a larger profit off a log than the finished product we should be adding value to it and putting people to work. Let some of that money trickle down to us working guys instead of some Japanese working man or some rich guys pool boy or gardner.

I have a great source for lumber who has good contacts in BC and has been known to intercept western red cedar destined for export. It's beautiful stuff, nothing like what you get in the lumber yard. Clear, dense, straight with yellow and purple streaks

[Tom Bainbridge]

perhaps "we" the contractors and workers are reaping what majority of the English, American and Canadian clients want. the most work for the cheapest possible price

in and of itself. wanting the cheapest price isnt a bad thing

the problem, is wanting the cheapest price "at all cost" reguardless of quality

that leads to workers and contractors needing our timber and lumber suppliers sell at low prices. the suppliers arnt daft

if the japanese market wont accept anything but the best and they will pay for it, we will get what we want, the cheapest, that means we WILL get the japanese rejects

and neither are the directors of our national suppliers daft, their job is to make money for the shareholders........... also not a bad thing

result? the national suppliers are plc's (public limited companies) with huge numbers of shareholders who are ONLY interested in "numbers" so they are run by accountants, they buy rejects that nobody else will touch

that is why i like regional suppliers, they tend to be ltd (limited companies) with fewer shareholders, the boards of directors are closer to the front line, they are interested in two things, making money AND their reputation

so they sell reasonable quality gear at reasonable prices

edit, and often, as ive found. the regional's sell reasonable gear within a tad of what the national's charge for rubbish

[David Meiland]

I'll take some photos of the framing lumber at the yard here. It'll make you cry. Lately, with building slow, there is a lot of #1 fir in every unit, and many clear sticks, even the wide stuff. Tom, maybe you should start an import business. I can hook you up with as many Washington state and BC mills as you need, for a very small fee of course!

[dgbldr]

my local timber merchant
... carcassing timber

I just love the British language :) So what is "carcassing timber"?

[tjbnwi]

Very funny dg, never heard it put that way.

Tom

[David Meiland]

Don't be daft Americans... all contractors need carcassers on their crews, or they need to hire carcassing subs, how else you gonna get your jobs carcassed up?

[dgbldr]

That's easy. I threaten to hit them over the head with a 50,8 x 101,6 mm timber and kick their sorry carcasses into the moat.

[Tom Bainbridge]

post deleted

[worthy]

Lumber only goes to grade number 3 here. But that's because we call the best "select".

I am surprised to hear there is such a thing as a British lumber industry. I thought it was all preserved for environmentalists, forever forbidden to be harvested. Robin Hood, Birnam Wood marching on Dunsinane and all that.

[BigLou80]

I'll take some photos of the framing lumber at the yard here. It'll make you cry. Lately, with building slow, there is a lot of #1 fir in every unit, and many clear sticks, even the wide stuff. Tom, maybe you should start an import business. I can hook you up with as many Washington state and BC mills as you need, for a very small fee of course!

I find it all depends on what the yard wants to bring in and what the customer is willing to pay. Fir is almost never seen around here and clear SPF probably doesn't exist, but a better grade does exist and is available at some yards for a slight up charge.

All the other yards just stock what I call firewood grade its nasty nasty stuff cut from small trees some probably only big enough to yield one or two 2x4's. I can assure you there are no #1 or clear anything in a lift of "firewood" it's literally cut from logs that were bound for an OSB mill