Hardwood log grades for standard lumber

Abstract

Historically, log quality has been evaluated by log grading systems based on judgment and experience. The hardwood log grades for standard lumber, as developed by the Forest Products Laboratory, are based on an analysis of the relationship between log characteristics and end product yield.

This system enables foresters, timber sellers, and timber buyers to separate, from woods-run hardwood logs, those logs suitable for manufacture into factory grade lumber and to rank the logs into categories of high-, medium-, and low-quality yields.

The yield tables provide the information necessary for estimating the value and volumes of the standard factory lumber grades to be extended from the graded logs.

This system for grading hardwood logs was first proposed by the Forest Products Laboratory in 1949 in Laboratory Report 1737. In 1952, the proposed grades were adopted as the official hardwood log grades for the U.S. Forest Service. Since the first publication of the grading system, the grade specifications and their application have remained unchanged. This report updates Report No. 1737, adds a limited amount of new yield data, and includes some adjustments in the original yield data.

Citation

Vaughan, C.L.; Wollin, A.C.; McDonald, K.A.; Bulgrin, E.H. 1966. Hardwood log grades for standard lumber. Res. Pap. FPL-63. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory. 52 p.