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Old framer at the lumber yard taught me about green lumber in 5 minutes

Back in 2019 I was building a deck for a guy in Portland and kept having issues with the boards twisting. This older framer maybe 70 years old was loading his truck next to me and saw me cussing at a warped 2x6. He just walked over and said "you buying that from the front of the pile again?" Then he spent maybe 5 minutes showing me how to look at the end grain and pick boards that won't move. Never had a deck come back on me after that. Anyone else have some old timer drop a pearl of wisdom on them like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

emmag2211d ago

Oh man, that's exactly the kind of thing that sticks with you. I actually read a book on old-school building methods last year, and the author talked about how green lumber is like a living thing - it's gonna shrink, twist, or cup based on how it was cut from the log. The dude said the best framers back in the day would look at the rings and avoid boards with the heartwood centered because they'd split something fierce. It's wild how much you can tell just from the end grain if you know what to look for. That 5 minute lesson probably saved that guy a thousand headaches over his career.

terryk1011d ago

Honestly, that's gold right there. I had a similar thing with an old mason showing me how to read a brick's "frog" to know if it'd hold up in freeze-thaw. Took him maybe two minutes and saved me from a whole wall that would've crumbled. Those old guys just have a way of cutting through all the BS and getting straight to what works.