SPF Lumber in Calgary

[jhyatt01]

Does anyone happen to know if the SPF in Calgary is generally spruce or pine?

[leeaspell]

Or maybe fir?

[220swifty]

Mostly spruce, unless you ask for different.

[Grizzly Adams]

Spruce Pine or Fir. Means exactly that and depends on the source, which usually means Alberta or BC. Should be a stamp identifying the mill on each piece. Good eye can hand pick a lot of the time if you're looking for something specific, but for structural purposes supposedly doesn't matter. Given the state of our forests and the rate theyr'e harvesting, most of it is ****. Pretty tough to find anything with 4 corners in the lift.

Grizz

[RBI]

Here in Calgary at least , like 220swifty says its spruce Anything in basic 2x building material these days is spruce, if you want fur , good luck finding or more so paying for it , and pine is usually found more in 1x material but would be used more for finishing that it would be for structure.

[Fisherpeak]

SPF here is common,just not the best.Eyeball each piece,on the flat ,sight down an edge.Chuck the rainbows.If you buy buy a whole lift make sure your lumberyard will take the culls back.I(and my crew) have built over 100 houses in the last 10 years,sometimes 70% of the lumber goes back.Wane edges are not that bad as long as they are straight.Bent like a ski ain`t going to work too well.

[jhyatt01]

Thanks guys, the reason I'm looking is because I build tables and only have access to spruce SPF here, I used some down near Lethbridge a few weeks ago and it was more pine then spruce. But someone requested the top be made of pine or fir and I have found some fir but its not kiln dried, and I don't have time to let it dry. I have a friend that is coming up this week and was going to get him to grab some pine for me if it was available.

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by Fisherpeak

SPF here is common,just not the best.Eyeball each piece,on the flat ,sight down an edge.Chuck the rainbows.If you buy buy a whole lift make sure your lumberyard will take the culls back.I(and my crew) have built over 100 houses in the last 10 years,sometimes 70% of the lumber goes back.Wane edges are not that bad as long as they are straight.Bent like a ski ain`t going to work too well.

"Wane edges aren't too bad" [quote]

Till you go to drywall or maybe hang a picture, down the road.

Grizz

[Fisherpeak]

[QUOTE=Grizzly Adams;2281568]"Wane edges aren't too bad"

Till you go to drywall or maybe hang a picture, down the road.

Grizz

That`s why you make sure you can take the crap back.Wanes are fine for a lot of applications in contruction.IE doubles or triples for Load bearing.Long as they are straight.

[Hunter65]

Sorry if derailed, but this thread immediately brought this to mind:

http://www.bcsportbikes.com/forum/sh...s-I-don-t-even

[Cowtown guy]

Originally Posted by Hunter65

Sorry if derailed, but this thread immediately brought this to mind:

http://www.bcsportbikes.com/forum/sh...s-I-don-t-even

Best thread ever!!!!

[gpgriz]

Note that a number of AB mills are working under the current pine strategy where they are supposed to reduce the amount of pine over their landbase.

Much of current harvest is skewed to pine.

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by Mustayah

Note that a number of AB mills are working under the current pine strategy where they are supposed to reduce the amount of pine over their landbase.

Much of current harvest is skewed to pine.

Now this where I get confused. All the areas I've seen around here, they've harvested predominately Spruce and reseeded with Pine.

Grizz

[JimPS]

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams

Now this where I get confused. All the areas I've seen around here, they've harvested predominately Spruce and reseeded with Pine.

Grizz

... ever heard of corporate welfare logging?

Subsidize the industry to harvest pine for beetle control and the companies high grade every big marketable spruce they can get their hands on.

No surprise to me the the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies come in at number 2 nation wide for the largest recent land disturbances in the country.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/alber...tudy-1.1637645

[fish gunner]

Originally Posted by Hunter65

Sorry if derailed, but this thread immediately brought this to mind:

http://www.bcsportbikes.com/forum/sh...s-I-don-t-even

It livez , I love this thread . The time lapse is one of a kind. Nearly as bad as some of the new home framing in central AB .

[jhyatt01]

Originally Posted by Hunter65

Sorry if derailed, but this thread immediately brought this to mind:

http://www.bcsportbikes.com/forum/sh...s-I-don-t-even

Thanks for pointing out this thread to me, I was going to use his landlord's build plan, but now that I've seen this I'll likely make a few alterations to my plans

[Leeper]

Originally Posted by jhyatt01

Thanks guys, the reason I'm looking is because I build tables and only have access to spruce SPF here, I used some down near Lethbridge a few weeks ago and it was more pine then spruce. But someone requested the top be made of pine or fir and I have found some fir but its not kiln dried, and I don't have time to let it dry. I have a friend that is coming up this week and was going to get him to grab some pine for me if it was available.

Red Fir doesn't lend itself to kiln drying. It has a real tendency to split and check. Traditionally, fir was air dried. In recent years, fir is still not kiln dried but is not air dried either. In other words, it is often planed in a semi-green state. Used in construction, it splits and shrinks badly. Since shrinkage varies according to the moisture content of the wood, after time, you end up with a bunch of boards which vary significantly in width and thickness. Larch, which is generally cut into 1 inch lumber, is the same way and doesn't tolerate kiln drying. Leeper