GRADES OF LUMBER AND LOG GRADES. 103 



87. Grades of Lumber and Log Grades.^ In the scaling of logs 

 the primary object is to determine the contents in board feet of sound 

 lumber as fixed by the arbitrary standard of the log rule, based solely 

 on dimensions of the log, and modified only by deductions for unsound 

 lumber (Chapter VIII). 



But as shown in § 86, the purchaser of logs, or millman, is even 

 more concerned with the value per 1000 board feet of the scaled contents. 

 This value will depend directly upon the amount, by per cent of the 

 total scale, of each of several standard or recognized grades of lumber 

 which the logs will yield when sawed, and the resultant weighted aver- 

 age value which this gives to the logs as a whole. 



When the value of logs must be determined before sawing, as is 

 required when logs are purchased, and in the sale of standing timber, 

 the relative percentages of these standard grades which will probably be 

 produced from these logs or the stands in question must be estimated. 

 It is evident that this can only be done with approximate accuracy, 

 since a mere inspection of the surface and ends of logs will not reveal 

 exactly the condition of the interior as to texture, extent of defects 

 and per cent of better and poorer grades present. 



In scaling, no attempt is ever made to divide or separate the total 

 scale of a log as indicated by the log rule, into the amounts or per cents 

 of different grades of lumber in the log. Not only would such a process 

 be too expensive and time consuming, but it would not be sufficiently 

 exact to pay for the effort of calculating the results separately log by 

 log to get the total scale for each grade of lumber. 



Instead, a system has been substituted of establishing so-called log 

 grades, usually three in number, based on the average value of the con- 

 tents of logs as determined by the grades of lumber which they contain. 

 This classification permits of the fixing of separate prices for each log 

 grade. The total scale of each log is thrown to the log grade in which 

 it is classed. 



Defects in lumber (§ 352-353) may be separated into two classes, 

 unsound defects which reduce the scale of the log as described above, and 

 sound defects which reduce the grades of sound lumber but do not reduce 

 the scale of the log. The effect of the first class is to render the log 

 unmerchantable if in excess of the determined limit; the effect of the 

 second class is to lower the value and consequently the grade of the 



to take it to a mill and have it sawed." Gordon vs. Cleveland Sawmill Co., 82 

 N. W. Rep. 230, Supreme Court, Michigan. 



This ruling is based on the millman 's point of view, which, in the absence of 

 contract specifications protecting the logger, will always determine the standard of 

 merchantability. ' 



* Ref. Appendix A, 



