Buying PAR timber

[Karl]

Hi all

Just wanted to canvass some opinion on what you expect to get when you buy PAR.

I have a job making some replacement kitchen doors and needed 300 linear ft of AWO. I decided to order PAR as the additional cost was only an extra £10 per cube.

I picked the boards up today, and didn't really pay any attention to them as I was loading them up. However, when I got them home I noticed

25% had sapwood running through at least 75% of the 7ft lenghts (2 were actually pure sapwood :? )

50% of the remainder had sapwood in them, but I can work with that (ie cut it out) as the longest length I need will be 600mm.

ALL of the boards had severe snipe at the beginning and end of the boards - so 6" of each board was lost.

In fairness to the timber yard they have said they will replace the 11 boards which have at least 75% sapwood, and offered to machine me up some more. I've told them that i'll take roughsawn instead :lol:

This is the first time i've bought PAR, and I wondered what others experience was.

Cheers

Karl

 

[Mr Ed]

Issues with snipe and tearout and also the cost of PAR were the original reasons I equipped myself to deal with rough sawn. It always feels that someone in a timber yard will not prepare the timber with the same degree of care as if you did it yourself.

Ed

 

[matt]

I guess it depends on the timber yard. I always buy PAR from Catford Timber and I can't fault them. Sometimes there is snipe at the ends but they always ensure there is enough timber in the length for me to cut it off and still have the length I ordered. They're always extremely diligent and point out defects and how they've allowed for them.

 

[joiner_sim]

I'd try ordering from a local joinery shop. I've never had to buy PAR timber as I work in a joinery shop and the boss generally lets me have it FOC. However, as I'm a bench joiner and not a machinist the maching gets left to someone else in the workshop, and I generally find i get a decent selection of timber. So thats what I'd suggest trying the local joinery shop.

 

[Karl]

Issues with snipe and tearout and also the cost of PAR were the original reasons I equipped myself to deal with rough sawn. It always feels that someone in a timber yard will not prepare the timber with the same degree of care as if you did it yourself.

Ed

Ed - i've got a Jet p/t to do the conversion myself. It's just that I thought the PAR route would save a considerable chore of getting the timber I needed.

Perhaps i've just been unfortunate, but I won't be bothering to get PAR again.

Cheers

Karl

 

[wizer]

I think PAR is exactly what it says it is. It's planed all 'round. It's not prepared timber. If you do get timber which comes out flat with square edges, it's a bonus. I don't think any/many timber yards intend to prepare timber for immediate use when PAR'ing it. It does take the grunt out of timber prep if you don't have machines. Otherwise, do it yourself.

 

[Max Power]

As Wizer says alls your going to get is dressed on four sides, much better to do it your self

 

[jasonB]

If you had ordered sawn from the same supplier whats to say you would not have got the same boards that they used and would still have had the sapwood, planing it yourself would not have solved the issue. I would be looking at the quality of the boards you are buying not who prepares it.

The 3" of snipe at the ends is quite usual and I would always be buying boards longer than needed as the first few inches are likely to have splits etc anyway.

The biggest problem with PAR is that its usually done on a 4-sider which will spit it out almost a bent as it goes in unless the machinist takes the time to straighten the board on a surface planer before it goes into the 4-sider.

Jason

 

[Karl]

If you had ordered sawn from the same supplier whats to say you would not have got the same boards that they used and would still have had the sapwood, planing it yourself would not have solved the issue. I would be looking at the quality of the boards you are buying not who prepares it.

If i'd got roughsawn boards from the same supplier I would have selected the boards myself and chosen those with least sapwood. I expected the supplier to use the same caution when choosing my timber for planing.

Lesson learnt anyway - roughsawn from now on.

Cheers

Karl

 

[jhwbigley]

If you had ordered sawn from the same supplier whats to say you would not have got the same boards that they used and would still have had the sapwood, planing it yourself would not have solved the issue. I would be looking at the quality of the boards you are buying not who prepares it.

If i'd got roughsawn boards from the same supplier I would have selected the boards myself and chosen those with least sapwood. I expected the supplier to use the same caution when choosing my timber for planing.




Karl

I'm sure most would just take whatever is top of the pile, there not interested in what it looks like, just as long the can get the sizes you want out of it with minimal wastage.

i'm sure if you speced that you didn't want any sap wood they could do it, but will be most likely charged for the waste.

JHB