Matinicus Planking Stock

Today I picked up my planking stock a few miles north of the border in British Columbia. I ordered the lumber through Cowichan Lumber, which mainly deals with wholesalers and large orders. All planks are 2" thick and either 18 or 20 feet long. For a lesson on the stimulating language of the lumber industry, I ordered my lumber from a larger tally of:

2X10 & 2X12 GRN C&BTR CLR MG YC RGH

....meaning.....

• 2x10"s and 2x12"s
• GRN= green (not kiln or air dried)
• C&BTR = the grade is "C & Better Clear." Clear vertical grain (CVG) is the highest quality, the most expensive, is virtually knot-free, and has the grain perpendicular to the flat face of the board. The next grades include "A & Better" and "B & Better". C & Better allows for medium pitch streaks, limited pin holes, hit and miss skips, and a limited number of knots. 
• MG = Mixed grain. The collection of boards are a mix of cuts from the tree, resulting in different orientations of the grain. 
• YC= Yellow Cedar (Cupressus nootkatensis)
• RGH = Rough-cut. The stock has not been planed to exact dimensions, nor has it been planed or shaped after drying and any resulting cupping or distortion.

About half of my boards include both flat and slash grain. A few boards have purely slash grain. I did not get any pure edge/vertical grain lumber as the fasteners which hold lapstrake planks together may split wood with vertical grain along a growth ring. (The black and white drawing of a log illustrates how different cuts of lumber will tend to shrink and change shape after drying.) I ordered 389 board/feet (1"x12"x12") of yellow cedar. Since the finished planking will be 7/16" thick I plan to re-saw the 2" thick planks down to 1". On certain boards I may be able to re-saw the boards into three 5/8" thick planks if I'm lucky. Since the boards are rough-cut they will need surface planed first. Whatever thickness is left is what I will have to work with and re-saw into thinner boards.

Right now the (rather expensive) planks are acting as air fresheners for the Schooner Zodiac's warehouse. They are stickered (separated by little sticks of wood) and will continue to air dry for the time being. They will be surface planed on-site and taken elsewhere to be re-sawed.