Bryan Watkins & Son Ltd

The world of Timber can be complex, with terms and phrases which aren’t in the daily vocabulary of most people. Here we hope to clear a few things up and help you understand where your timber comes from. Remember if you need help with absolutely anything give us a call.

First of all our range of machined softwood products is produced using mainly Redwood. Consequently whitewood is used for some products where it is better suited to the end use. Redwood and Whitewood used for these products is graded visually to internationally accepted rules as follows.

GRADES

Unsorted – Wood of the highest qualities. Minimal sound knots, minimal imperfections, excellent appearance.

Fifths – Good quality, few sound knots of small size, few other small imperfections.

Sawfalling – Mix of unsorted and Fifths as above.

Sixths – More visible imperfections suitable for less prominent applications.

CUTS

Centre Logs – Mainly 38mm and 50mm.

Boards – Cut from the outer part of the log to minimise the number of knots and other defects.

2 or 3 ex – Products produced by re-cutting a larger section; eg; 25mm ex 50mm or 19mm ex 38mm.

STRENGTH GRADED STRUCTURAL SOFTWOOD

These products are usually referred to as carcassing products. And are primarily Whitewood (Spruce). They are strength graded as follows;

TR26 – Specifically for the production of engineered Truss Rafters.

C24 – The highest, generally available, strength grade for general building applications.

C16 – General purpose structural grade.