Learn about the "shop" grade of Canadian Coastal Softwood Lumber!

Someone once joked, "If you don't know the shop grade when working with Canadian softwood lumber, it's like working with American hardwood without knowing the FAS grade, or working with radiata pine without knowing the KI grade..." So, what exactly does shop grade mean? Here's a quick guide!

1. In the Canadian National Lumber Grade Guide (NLGA), shop grade is originally defined by the number of defect-free door and window materials (now it has been expanded to various occasions where clear materials without knots are required), so there is a concept called "clear cutting".

2. What is a "clear saw block"? It is a clear saw block that has no obvious defects after defects are removed, and the dimensions meet the following requirements (those that do not meet the length requirements are not counted):

-- Boards less than 5" (127mm) wide must be taken in the full width direction and at least 3' (915mm) long

-- For boards from 127mm to 235mm wide, they must be at least 127mm wide and 915mm long.

-- Boards with a width of 235mm or more and a length of 457mm or more

3. Divide the processing grade boards into two categories according to thickness. Then apply the above concept of "clearing saw block" to the following materials of different qualities to get the corresponding grades.

The first category: Thickness greater than 3 inches (inclusive), known as "flitch" in the industry, is divided into two grades:

We imagine cutting this material lengthwise into 1" thick sheets (like below) and then rolling them out to remove any imperfections.

If more than 80% of the "clear saw blocks" can be longer than 2', and 40% of the "clear saw blocks" are longer than 7', it is called "factory flitch" (FF). If more than 60% of the "clear saw blocks" can be longer than 2' (there is no limit on how long the blocks can be), it is called "shop flitch" (SF).

The second category, with a thickness of less than 3 inches, is called "boards" in the industry and is divided into four grades based on the processing level:

Select shop – 70% of “clearing saw blocks”

#1 shop – sells 1/2 to 70% of “clear sawn blocks”

#2 shop – sell 1/3 to 1/2 of the “clear saw block”

#3 shop – sells 10% of “clearing saw blocks” and more than 50% of “small clearing saw block combinations”

(Specific size is

64mm/89mm/114mm*711mm or longer)

4. In the actual processing classification of factories, the above grades are often not divided, but several grades are combined to define the grade of the product. Common ones are as follows:

--#2 shop and better – upstream products select long and knot-free wood, and downstream products select #3 shop and below grades

--85/15 shop –

Select a combination of shop/#1 shop/#2 shop but the percentage of #2 shop should not exceed 15%.

--2/3 shop – a combination of #2shop and #3 shop (the next level up from 85/15shop above)

--factory select shop – can produce shop-grade lumber with a clear sawn block of more than 7 feet

--FF through D-clear – factory flitch through D-clear (DFF)

"Modified Shop" – Customized production of clearing blocks in terms of size and quantity, depending on the specific end product's clear lumber requirements.

5. Shop grade is commonly used to grade the following tree species: hemfir, douglas fir, western red cedar, yellow cedar