Thread: Wood, Timber or Lumber?

Like a few of the other guys when i started my apprenticeship i was firmly told "you burn wood, this is timber".

My take on lumber was generally either a felled tree or a log that had been milled but was still green.....oh and if you spell it wrong its your lower back

Ew

In discussions on a USA or UK forum I would never use a term like "timber" since they do not relate to it. It is "wood". If someone uses "lumber", it is likely to be a yank and referring to dimensioned, rough sawn boards. Every now-and-then I toss in "timber" to let them know that the other side of the world uses different terminology. I must admit to being lazy at times and referring here to timber as wood .... the ever encroaching disfigurement of our language continues ...

Regards from Perth

Derek

And yet in Winmalee (lower Blue Mountains, NSW) there is a street called Tall Timbers Rd - obviously referring to the local flora. So by the preceding definitions it isn't actually timber yet - still wood (if it's in the ground and still kicking).

What about "TIMBER!!" as a warning to run your a### off as it comes crashing down.

Originally Posted by clear out

Stuff

in my opinion, Descriptive words can never be descriptive enough with this stuff…. I mean, would… I mean timber !

eg. I'll get some timber I've never used before.I'm told its common name. Don't want to know its scientific name, because I just don't remember them. start using it. seeing what it does….how its bends. what radii it pulls with respect to radii and thickness and moisture. notice its grain directions, and planning…notice what portion of the boards are quarter sawn and what aren't etc etc ….thousands of little important things relevant to the work I do. By far the most important stuff because its the stuff in your hands at that moment and have experimented with. So important because one knows these Qualities can vary within the same species.

Then a well read bloke, with a strong memory, and a quick tongue, full of confidence comes up to you to test you. And will seem to enjoy that your a fool because you don't know….

its scientific name
its quantitive density
where it grows
that you call it 'wood' and not 'timber'
etc etc etc.

Trivial 'Stuff' really, often because their not accurate or generalising of a highly variable topic. But it must be learnt. Else I'm an idiot !

Originally Posted by apricotripper

...Then a well read bloke, with a strong memory, and a quick tongue, full of confidence comes up to you to test you. And will seem to enjoy that your a fool because you don't know….

its scientific name
its quantitive density
where it grows
that you call it 'wood' and not 'timber'
etc etc etc.

Trivial 'Stuff' really, often because their not accurate or generalising of a highly variable topic. But it must be learnt. Else I'm an idiot !

Jake, when someone sets out to put someone else down with "superior" knowledge, that's not a nice thing to do by anyone's standards, but let's hope if there are any 'well-read' folks on here, they are also polite enough to inform rather than insult!

The only reason to have defined meanings for words is so a group of people all know what someone is talking about. As long as a given group agrees on what they mean by 'timber' or 'lumber' or 'wood', that's all well & good. But if you move to a different group or locality or a different country, don't be surprised if the agreed terms are different - English is a living language and changing all the time (do you understand teenagers talking? ). You either adapt to what is in use in the group you are with at the time, or fight an endless crusade to change the world.

It's a pity we can't all agree on some consistent basic words for the various stages of a tree's life - some are ok, like 'tree' (though we may vary in how big a plant has to be to get called a tree!), but 'timber' and 'lumber' can have various meanings depending on where you live. In the part of Nth America I lived in for a while, when lumber came in larger dimensions, say 8" x 8", it became 'timber' as in 'heavy framing-timbers'. Go figure....

As a former edjumacator, I was always pretty keen on using technical terms properly - otherwise technical jargon, which is (or should be!) used for precise & concise communication around the world, soon becomes meaningless gibberish. I also like to use botanical names for trees where I can, because as you well know, common names can be pretty misleading. "Dead Finish" to someone living out Longreach way applies to a tree that is not even in the same family as the tree called "Dead Finish" where I grew up (Atherton Tableland). If you live anywhere in the top half of Australia, you know what someone means when they talk about a pawpaw tree, but it's entirely different from a tree that grows in the US, which again, isn't even remotely related or similar in any way to what we know as a pawpaw. So I hope you'll take it in that spirit when I drop a botanical name or two & not think I'm being an arrogant pratt....

Cheers,

So how tall does a triffid have to be before you can say it's lumbering along?

Over the years I have come to realise the importance of using Latin names to talk about things. Yes there are those folk who drop those names just to get your reactions and to show how they are a cut above you. when its all cut and dried Latin names are nothing more than that "a name". you go to the quack because you have a crook foot. Mmmm...says the quack you have "Latin name" you ask what is that he then explains by saying you have a "crook foot". Latin to me is just another name for something but it does help that name stand alone and is recognised by people around the world to know exactly what you are describing.

Example; I have a nephew who is a trained Arbourist who does gardening as well for a living. My daughter and I went to Orange to pick up my Jointer. We pulled up in a park at Wellington where was growing trees that had a very strange leaf and branch structure that I had never seen before. I found one if these branches on the ground so I took it to ask this nephew about it. As soon as he saw it he said its " .......Cunninghamei"
My very inadequate knowledge of Latin to me it was in the "Hoop Pine Family". He then rattled off another couple of species in that family. I surprised my self for making the connection.
I do some work at times for a neighbour. He is an Agronomist with very extensive knowledge of Plant Latin Names. There is one he rattles off that is 100 yards long and it is only some very small flower. The common name does not reflect the long Latin name

I doubt I have heard the word 'lumber' spoken in the last couple of decades, except on American TV shows. Generic words like lumber, timber and wood have specific meanings within the various industries that work with them. I think I remember my grandfather using the term lumber, he owned a sawmill in Victoria during the war. But he died in 1981 so I can't ask him.

Pretty much everyone I know who talks about wood uses a specific term like 'hardwood' or 'softwood' or 'blackbutt' or 'radiata'. I know there are problems with those terms too, but I rarely ever hear anyone saying "I need to buy some timber to build that table". They'll say instead "I'm going to buy some Tasmanian Blackwood" or whatever. If you go to the timber yard you say "do you have any blackbutt". I suspect saying "do you have any timber" would raise a few eyebrows.

When you watch people demonstrating techniques, they usually say 'stock' or 'work piece'. 'Wood' sounds wrong and is probably how my wife would refer to it

I can never remember botanical names, so I just stick with the common name. At the end of the day for what I do, it's not that important.

As for Latin - my father was one of the gardeners at an English country house and he always referred to plants by their botanical name, it being the way he was trained. He said it was safer anyway; when my grandmother (his MIL) asked him the common name for one plant he told her truthfully, Mother in law's tongue. She didn't speak to him for weeks.

Originally Posted by silentC

..... Tasmanian Blackwood

Hmmm, so why isn't it Tasmanian Blacktimber?

Him: "What did you make it from?"

Me: "Tassie Blackwood"

Him: "You can't have - that's either still a tree or it's firewood"
Me:

Originally Posted by jimbur

.....Mother in law's tongue. She didn't speak to him for weeks.

Why - did it have vicious thorns?

It was with trepidation that I told my wife the beans I had brought up from the garden were 'Lazy Housewife'

Originally Posted by silentC

It was with trepidation that I told my wife the beans I had brought up from the garden were 'Lazy Housewife'

Well it was you that brought them up....