Solid Wood Products 2581 



channel a greater proportion of the flooring through the distributors who have 

 both the expertise and the facilities to offer consumers a complete floor system 

 (Miller 1972). 



DIMENSION STOCK 



Hardwood dimension stock includes almost any cut-to-size wood compo- 

 nent, usually in the kiln-dried condition, produced for resale to a manufacturer. 

 The term is principally used with reference to furniture components, handle 

 blanks, and squares or rounds; it may include parts for caskets, toys, and 

 specialty items. Flooring and pallet parts are not considered dimension stock. 

 The term includes lumber core stock and laminated components, however, and 

 is sometimes expanded to include flat or moulded plywood components (Flann 

 1963). 



Dimension stock is sold in three classes, depending on degree of processing. 

 Rough dimension stock consists of blanks sawed and ripped to specific sizes, 

 and possibly planed hit-and-miss on one side to eliminate excessive thickness 

 variation. Semi-finished dimension stock is rough dimension stock further 

 processed by edge- or face-gluing, surfacing, moulding, tenoning, boring, sand- 

 ing, or other machining; such stock is not, however, completely fabricated and 

 ready for assembly. Finished dimension stock is completely machined or 

 fabricated; no additional machining is required by the customer, with the possi- 

 ble exception of a light sanding operation. 



Grading rules for dimension stock have been published by The Hardwood 

 Dimension Manufacturers Association (1961) and by the National Hardwood 

 Lumber Association (1978, p. 52). 



Text sections 18-11 and 18-12 discuss in considerable detail the rationale for 

 bucking low-grade hardwood logs to short lengths, e.g., 6-foot-long, and then 

 sawing these short logs into lumber for direct conversion to dimension stock — 

 thereby bypassing the manufacture of graded lumber in lengths and widths 

 acceptable to the graded-lumber trade. These text sections describe cutting 

 patterns, cutting procedures and costs, cutting yields, and sawing equipment. 

 Also discussed are cutting-length requirements of the furniture industry. For 

 example, Bingham and Schroeder (1976, 1977) found that the average cutting 

 length in one furniture factory was 24 inches, a second averaged 23 inches, and a 

 third averaged 31 inches. These findings are a strong argument for manufactur- 

 ing dimension stock directly from short logs. 



The technology of sawing rounds is illustrated in figure 18-91; drying data for 

 rounds are graphed in figure 20-26. 



Drying of squares is described in chapter 20, as follows: 



Subject Text 



Air-drying Figure 20-6 



Kiln-drying hickory handle blanks Tables 20-23 and 20-24 



Kiln-drying 10/4, 12/4, and 16/4 squares of 10 hardwood 



species or species groups Tables 20-25 



