Thread: Meaning of dressed timber????

I would say yes dressed all round. BUT you can not guarantee no bow

Don't quote me on this, but what I understand is D.A.R. (Dressed All aRound) is exactly that it has been sized and planed on all four sides, opposed to Rough Sawn which is cut to approximate size but has not been milled/dressed.

As for the bow that is just the nature of the timber, some types are more prone to warp/bow than others. Also I think how the timber has been stored after milling/dressing and the moisture content and humidity has a big role to play.

Originally Posted by savage

Don't quote me on this, but what I understand is D.A.R. (Dressed All aRound) is exactly that it has been sized and planed on all four sides, opposed to Rough Sawn which is cut to approximate size but has not been milled/dressed.

As for the bow that is just the nature of the timber, some types are more prone to warp/bow than others. Also I think how the timber has been stored after milling/dressing and the moisture content and humidity has a big role to play.

So in a nutshell it means planed on all four sides only.

There are people who will joint and thickness timber for you. Some timber yards will do it if they have the gear but I don't have details.

DAR means that you won't get splinters. As far as being square and flat - no bloody chance!! No consistency of thickness from one board to the next, depending on the board there is still every likelyhood of cup, warp, twist etc etc.

Hang on Stuart,

if it's DAR, then anything in that specifiec size will be what it's specified. As for bow, spring, cup - no guarantee's.

If it isn't the sizes specified as DAR then take it back and this is a refund issue, bow, spring, cup, even twist no refunds/guarantee's.

You haven't bought DAR from Bunnings then recently........

Originally Posted by Stuart.

You haven't bought DAR from Bunnings then recently........

Yes you guessed corectly, but if it is sold as Dressed All Round (DAR) say 90x19 then every stick in that pile must be 90x19 if not and you are delivered a stck of wrong sized material - these should be refunded or replaced.

AS for "natural" characteristics of timber, bow, spring, twist, cupping, it's not an engineered product, it's natural and one needs to go through all the timber they buy to check it for suitability.

Originally Posted by Sigidi

Yes you guessed corectly, but if it is sold as Dressed All Round (DAR) say 90x19 then every stick in that pile must be 90x19 if not and you are delivered a stck of wrong sized material - these should be refunded or replaced.

If you manage to make that trick actually work, you either got very lucky or you found somewhere that doesn't know what they are selling in the first place.

DAR does mean dressed all round, and if it's dressed to a 'nominal' size, then it will be that exact size on the day it was milled.

Today is a different day, so there's an excellent chance that bit of wood will be a different size. Depending on the species, temperature and humidity, how the wood's been cut and how it's been kept, the change could be over 10% without even trying.

Of course, if was milled at a different size, then you would have a leg to stand on, but we are talking it being milled to say 15mm x 70mm, instead of 19mm x 90mm.

It's why I always check the clock , read the weather forecast and check the hygrometer before I fire up the thicknesser. If I am going to cut joints on wood milled today, then I am either going to cut those joints today, or mill the stuff another day, when I have time to mill/cut all at once and when the weather has been playing fair.

Can you tell that I don't buy DAR, and if I do I plan to not use it as dimensioned wood, but to chop up into smaller pieces?

Meaning of dressed timber? It means you're too stingy to buy yer kid a doll!

Geese Schtoo!!!!

THat sounds like they are all possible variables, but how do you ever make anything?

If you don't put on the thicknesser unless you can also do the joints for the project, before the temperature changes, daylight shifts and the moisture in the air alters???

Yeah I understand how increases in humidity alters timber - IF it's not at EMC, but a peice of dressed timber is also a peice of kiln dried timber ie stable, right?

Must be different way over there in the East, back here in S A there was no such thing DAR here until very very recently it was PAR "planed all round" this I learned at trade school. Tafe for the younger ones

My local Mitre 10 has a policy of calling DAR the size of rough sawn stuff. So when you rock up with a bit of wood you want they will say it is larger than it really is. Go figure!

Hi,The standard code for timber is (was ) 4x2 (100x50)finished size off the saw,if dressed 1/8"removed from all faces 4x2 now = 3 3/4"x1 3/4" also all combinations were used ie. DD double dressed,dressed 1 face and 1 edge etc.then when standards started to slip the saw cut was put on your side of the timber so 4x2 ended up a sawn size of 3 7/8x1 7/8 and so down the path we went with meteric and anything goes so you now get charged for a 4x2 that is actualey 3 1/2 x 1 1/2 or less in some cases.

Originally Posted by Sigidi

Yeah I understand how increases in humidity alters timber - IF it's not at EMC, but a peice of dressed timber is also a peice of kiln dried timber ie stable, right?

Oh are you in for a shock...

Kiln dried does not mean 'stable', it just means it's dry. I have a piece of hard maple kicking around where I logged the size of it, depending on what the humidity of the day was. Cut 100m wide, and it's shrank/grew by about 8mm.

Worst case scenario for the piece of wood, but since the humidity swings so wildly around here, I have to take account of it, or I have catastrophic joint failure, especially in hardwoods.

I have yet to have a straight, edge to edge glue up (ie: a panel) that has not pulled itself apart within 2 months. I have to spline everything. Not the glues fault, just that when you get a swing from 30% RH to 90% RH and back to 30% within the space of 3 days, well, it's hard on wood, and even harder on the poor glue.

I get things made, don't worry. I just don't finish mill wood and leave it sit for a week before cutting joints in it. I can't afford to.

It's also why I have zero trouble making joints that close up flush, every time.