What does 4/4 (four/fourths) represent?
4/4 (said: four/quarters) is the milled thickness in quarters of an inch. When buying surfaced material allowance should be made for drying shrinkage and surfacing. 4/4 surfaced will meet American hardwood grades link to AHEC pdf.
Quick Chart
4/4 (R) rough = (S) surfaced 7/8”-15/16”
5/4 R = S 1”-1 1/8”
6/4 R = S 1 1/8” – 1 3/8”
8/4 R = S 1 7/8” – 1 15/16”
What is the difference between your grades?
We have 3 grades, AAAA (4A), AAAAAA (5A), and Musical. We made up our own grading system, as there are no industry standards for grading figure, materials grade is mainly on intensity figure and then with the clarity and grain of the board. We grade our material once it is dried and surfaced.
AAAA is our “furniture grade” material. AAAA Maple and Myrtlewood will have light figure all over or light to bold figure sporadically all over the board or block. There will be areas where there is no figure, tight knots may also appear. AAAA Walnut and E. Cherry may have some sap wood, tight knots. Figure can wane in areas and material will be free of end checking.
AAAAA is a clear grade, free from surface and end checking, splits and cracks. This grade may have natural defect such as, burl eye or cluster, bird peck, pin knot. There is a swinging range in this grade. On the low end you will get intense deep figure with sporadic but aesthetically pleasing placement on the board. While on the high end it will be just one defect from Musical grade.
Musical grade was structured with acoustic instrument builders in mind. The material will be free of defect, figure will be even, strong and consist ant throughout the board. Material that is graded as musical is done so when it will be able to be re-sawn and yield consistent pattern throughout the board or billet. Spalted maple is rarely graded as Musical because of its nature. It can be used on instruments but rarely will the figure and black line be consistent.
Do you ship outside of the United States?
Yes, we ship to any physical address the postal services deliver to. Our first option is the postal service unless otherwise requested.
How dry is your wood?
Most of our wood is air dried for a season (summer thru summer) per inch and then put into a dehumidifying kiln, after that we can keep the wood at or around 7%. All the air dried, thicker than 8/4, material will be no more than 14% when we first put it on the store. All of our processed wood is kept in dehumidified/heated buildings.
