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The eight participants represented Arizona, California, Connecticut, Michigan, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. We just took the opportunity to move forward.”Ī first draft of the test procedure was introduced during that August of 2016 training class to participants from the NIST “Train the Trainer” program, who assisted OWM by providing valuable feedback. So that’s when we started developing these test procedures. In the course of doing so, it became clear that there was a need to provide inspectors with some procedural guidance for softwood lumber. But it was the first time we’ve ever taught this particular class. “Of course, OWM offers extensive teaching and training in a wide variety of areas. “We developed a training class for inspectors on products sold by count, linear measure, area, and thickness,” Sefcik says. Further guidance is found in Voluntary Product Standard PS 20-15, “American Softwood Lumber Standard.” But until last August, no one at NIST had focused on test procedures. There are specifications for method of sale - that is, labeling, dimensions, and definitions of terms and lumber types - in NIST’s Handbook 130, “Uniform Laws and Regulations,” under Section 2.10, Softwood Lumber.
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“But what has been lacking is something that gives the inspectors step-by-step guidance in how to test it, what equipment to use, how to account for varying moisture content, and more.” “Over the last couple of years, several states have requested guidance on how to test softwood lumber,” says OWM’s David Sefcik. That’s why OWM, in cooperation with the industry-based American Lumber Standards Committee (ALSC) and the California Division of Measurement Standards, has developed a detailed set of proposed testing procedures, and will submit it soon for consideration by the National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM),** which sets the consensus standards for all states to use. These and other problems make it hard to evaluate errors, difficult to compare findings, and impossible to cite a recognized measurement standard when, for example, lodging a complaint about wrongly sized lumber. Different inspectors may use different kinds of measuring devices - and may select samples to measure using different criteria. Measurements made at easy-to-reach ends of boards can be misleading.
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For example, the dimensions of softwood lumber are impacted by moisture content changes, density, species, and grain orientation. Nominal sizes were originally derived from dimensions of rough lumber before being surfaced (made smooth, even, and uniform in size and shape) at the mill.ĭetermining whether lumber is produced to proper sizes by the mill is complicated by numerous factors. The term “two by four” is considered a “nominal size,” used to describe approximate rather than actual dimension. To rectify that problem, NIST’s Office of Weights and Measures (OWM) has drafted a set of proposed test procedures designed to ensure that those measurements are made uniformly, accurately, and reliably. But is it really? How accurate are the dimensions of boards found at hardware stores and lumber yards? It’s the job of state and local inspectors to answer that question by making measurements periodically at retail locations, or earlier in the supply chain.īut at present there are no nationally agreed-upon test procedures for inspectors to follow in checking the accuracy of softwood* lumber dimensions.
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But most Americans eventually come to accept the fact that a “two by four” board is actually 1.5 inches by 3.5 inches (38 x 89 mm). NIST’s proposed test procedures for softwood lumber include a section on using moisture meters to measure the moisture content of wood, which significantly affects its final dimensions.įor some, it is a shocking revelation.