Pro tip: The old guy at the lumber yard in Springfield told me to always check for 'wind' in a board before I buy it.

I was picking out some 2x12s for a deck frame last month, just grabbing the straightest looking ones off the top of the pile. This older guy, must have been in his 70s, was watching me. He walked over, picked up one of my boards, and laid it flat on the concrete floor. He said, 'Kid, you're looking for bow and crook, but you're missing the twist. Put your eye down here.' He showed me how to sight down the board on its face to see if it was warped like a propeller. I'd been a carpenter for five years and never did that. He said he learned it his first day as an apprentice in 1965. Now I check every single long board that way. Anyone else have a simple check they do that isn't super obvious?

3 comments

3 Comments

max_schmidt776d ago

Yeah, check the end grain too. If the rings look like a frown, that board's gonna cup on you.

charlieh745d ago

What about the board's moisture, @max_schmidt77?

cora_west56d ago

Grain direction is a good start, but it's not the whole story. I've had boards with perfect smile rings still twist up on me. The bigger issue is how the board was cut from the log and how much internal stress it has. A board from the outside of the tree can act crazy even with nice end grain. You really have to look at the whole piece.