Help with grading Oak

[Coed y Cardi]

I'm in a bit of a predicament. I need to supply graded oak to a customer but can't find anyone to grade the timber. Does anyone know of anyone in west wales or close to ceredigion that could do it. Many thanks.

[agg221]

Is the oak green or dry?

 

My information is a few years old but if it's green, there was still technically no grading standard in place (although of course you can apply the dry grading standard). Oak is visually graded and it used to be the case that you did not need to be certified as a 'grader' for hardwood, just to ensure that it complied with the specs for a particular grade, which relate to size and placement of knots, presence of dark timber and the straightness of grain - it may be worth dropping Pete Bannister a PM as he is certainly aware of the standards.

 

Alec

[Daniël Bos]

I had some green oak grading queries a while ago, and a member on here (Who's not posted since, and this was his first and most excellent contribution) put me on to this:

 

www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/GreenoakAppendicesRefsGlossary.pdf/$FILE/GreenoakAppendicesRefsGlossary.pdf

 

It's a PDF with an excellent guide to green oak grading.

[Coed y Cardi]

Thanks agg, the oak is green, the engineers spec for the oak is D40 for the 100x250 and D30 for 150x150 purlins. Also there's a spec for one beam which is grade B cass 3 moisture service? The size of the beam is 300x300x3.6!

[agg221]

You really need input from someone with more knowledge than me, but I believe D30 and D40, and also class 3 moisture service, refer to grades under BS5756(2007) which is a visual grading standard for hardwoods which only applies to dry timber (20% maximum moisture content with no piece in the parcel exceeding 24%). You explicitly cannot grade 'wet' timber for interior use to this standard.

 

The grading guide linked to by Rover is excellent - way better than reading the dry grading defect standard and working out what applies (which is how I did mine!) However, notably, it is grading guidelines, rather than an approved standard, and as such you would still not need to stamp the timber to a grade, ie you do not need to be certified, so could do it yourself.

 

However, I really would want to confirm that this still applies. It was my interpretation three years ago, based on some highly informed guidance from my engineer, but things change - also I was doing my own timber for my own extension and was prepared to argue it if necessary, but it turned out that building control were happy to just take my word for it.

 

Alec