Are these two different species of wood???

I have two identical size pieces of 2X4 that are pressure treated and bought
from the same dealer at the same time.
There is quite a difference in the weight of the two...They are 40 " long
and one weighs 3 lb while the other is 7.5 lb. The second piece feels pretty
wet.

On closer inspection I noticed the markings are slightly different in that
the second is S-P-P instead of S-P-F.

The first piece is marked:

S-GRN
469 NLGA
S-P-F

The second:

S-GRN
469 NLGA
S-P-P

"Salmo" wrote in message
...
Are these two different species of wood???

I have two identical size pieces of 2X4 that are pressure treated and
bought from the same dealer at the same time.
There is quite a difference in the weight of the two...They are 40 " long
and one weighs 3 lb while the other is 7.5 lb. The second piece feels
pretty wet.

On closer inspection I noticed the markings are slightly different in that
the second is S-P-P instead of S-P-F.

Almost certainly one board is more dried out than the other and weighs more
since the treating process.

On Sun, 17 Jul 2005 12:20:41 GMT, "Salmo"
wrote:

Are these two different species of wood???

I have two identical size pieces of 2X4 that are pressure treated and bought
from the same dealer at the same time.
There is quite a difference in the weight of the two...They are 40 " long
and one weighs 3 lb while the other is 7.5 lb. The second piece feels pretty
wet.

On closer inspection I noticed the markings are slightly different in that
the second is S-P-P instead of S-P-F.

The first piece is marked:

S-GRN
469 NLGA
S-P-F

The second:

S-GRN
469 NLGA
S-P-P




S-GRN means that the stock was greater than 19% moisture content when
surfaced.

NLGA is a Canuckistani grading rules authority.

S-P-F is Spruce-Pine-Fir and can include any of these three as a
mixed lot.

S-P-P doesn't mean anything to me.


I would say that you have one piece that has simply lost more moisture
than the other.


Tom Watson - WoodDorker
tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (email)
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/ (website)

Tom Watson wrote:
....
S-GRN means that the stock was greater than 19% moisture content when
surfaced.

NLGA is a Canuckistani grading rules authority.

S-P-F is Spruce-Pine-Fir and can include any of these three as a
mixed lot.

S-P-P doesn't mean anything to me.

I would say that you have one piece that has simply lost more moisture
than the other.

I'm thinking the S-P-P is a S-P-F that got blurred in the stamping,
maybe...and concur completely on the density difference being primarily
water...

Thanks everyone....The heavier piece even looks different....wow - 4 1/2
pounds more water than the other one !!!! Just one 8' piece was different
than the rest....Almost looks like Douglas fir - The green preservative is
very dark on this one but it could be because the wood is so wet.

KP

Salmo wrote:

Thanks everyone....The heavier piece even looks different....wow - 4 1/2
pounds more water than the other one !!!! Just one 8' piece was different
than the rest....Almost looks like Douglas fir - The green preservative is
very dark on this one but it could be because the wood is so wet.


Would be very rare for PT to be Doug fir--it's far too dear to be used
up that way by the mills...

I would suspect that if you dry the two pieces for a month or so they'll
be very similar in weight. It is quite possible they're different
varieties of SYP and one is more open grained than another so there is
some inate density difference, but I'd wager pretty heavily it's
mostly simply water...

"Salmo" wrote in message
...
Thanks everyone....The heavier piece even looks different....wow - 4 1/2
pounds more water than the other one !!!! Just one 8' piece was different
than the rest....Almost looks like Douglas fir - The green preservative is
very dark on this one but it could be because the wood is so wet.


Certainly can be different species. Can also be from crowded wild versus
controlled tame plantations, with a lot more cellulose in the one that grew
crowded. Rings will be closer together.

Of course, it's also possible, but less so, given the difference in
appearance you mentioned, that they're the same and one was on top in the
sun, the other protected in the stack.

Tom Watson wrote

I would say that you have one piece that has simply lost more moisture
than the other.

I just bought some pressure treated softwood and it 'steamed' when drilled
or sawed it was that wet!

Dave