When we receive rough lumber, there are end cracks, end checks and checking in the rough state. Further processing, drying, rough planning and gang ripping will expose more of these characteristics. Help please.

Magnolia lumber is used in furniture, doors and millwork, and pallets.

Q. We have a problem with painted pieces of solid wood in cabinets that we send out. They are smooth when we ship them, but a month or so after they are installed in a house, the grain pattern of the wood shows through the painted finish.

Q. What is the correct moisture for teak used for cabinets?

Q. Where does hardwood lumber come from? How can I lower lumber prices?

Q. We made a table out of an 8 inch wide piece of lumber and I can guarantee that the top was flat when we shipped it, but now the customer has said that the individual pieces are cupped. Indeed, when I inspected it, he is correct. We were careful to make sure that all the pieces had the grain running the same direction (heart side down) to give a nice look. We did screw the top to the metal frame but the screws pulled out. What advice can you give?

Q. We are a medium-sized shop and find ourselves with a little bit of extra KD lumber that we want to keep safely without a change in moisture. How can we do this?

Q: Can you tell me what is causing us to see a very bumpy, wavy surface when planing? We are running at about 12 knife cuts per inch, but we see a lot of waves anyway.

Q. I saw you speak earlier about the housing market. Could you go over that again?

Q. I was shown two pieces of lumber, one 6-1/2 inches wide and 12 feet long and another almost an inch wider (not quite 7-1/2 inches wide) and 12 feet long and the grader said both were counted as 6 BF. The grader commented to me that some mills produced a lot of this narrow lumber. If our grader is correct, 6-1/2 inches x 12 feet is 936 square inches, while 7-1/2 inches x 12 feet is 1080 inches which is 15 percent more wood. Or I figure that 6-1/2-inch pieces are 15 percent less. I also know that our percentage yield with 6-1/2 inches is a bit lower than from 7-1/2-inch pieces, but this a bit scary. Is this right? What is going on?