The New Northern Central

[C855B]

... Also, I know it's passe to mention it, but holy ***** balls.

Yeah. I sent that meme to the contractor building our deep-woods cabin (tip o' the hat to DKS). He thanked me for the big laugh, he needed it.

[MK]

Do you really need Select grade for stringer duty?  I think the Select grade at HD means fewer surface imperfections and thus more costly.

An alternative, if you need a lot of stringers, is get a sheet of 3/4 ply and cut 4" strips.  Circular saw with an edge guide will come in handy.

[Philip H]

Do you really need Select grade for stringer duty?  I think the Select grade at HD means fewer surface imperfections and thus more costly.

An alternative, if you need a lot of stringers, is get a sheet of 3/4 ply and cut 4" strips.  Circular saw with an edge guide will come in handy.

Have you seen plywood prices lately? Its not any better in that aisle.

[LKOrailroad]

Last week I bought 96 feet of 1x square edge clear pine trim and 96 feet or 1/4 clear pine screen mould. Cost was exactly the same for both as what I bought a year ago. To the penny. On the other hand, the 3/4 birch plywood I bought went from $46 last year to $62 last week. Strange what lumber products have gone up and what have not.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Do you really need Select grade for stringer duty?  I think the Select grade at HD means fewer surface imperfections and thus more costly.

An alternative, if you need a lot of stringers, is get a sheet of 3/4 ply and cut 4" strips.  Circular saw with an edge guide will come in handy.

Plus I don't feel like screwing with all of that.

The non top shelf stuff wasn't much better, either.

I'm glad I only need pieces in ones and twos, but I feel bad for anyone who's working on huge projects.

[Chris333]

Do you have a Menards where you live?  We got one a few years ago and they have like 3 or 4 grades of lumber where Home Depot just has straight/expensive and curved/cheap.

[C855B]

Do you have a Menards where you live?  We got one a few years ago and they have like 3 or 4 grades of lumber where Home Depot just has straight/expensive and curved/cheap.

Agreed, but closest Menards to Ed is in Morgantown. Not worth an all-day drive. 

[Philip H]

Agreed, but closest Menards to Ed is in Morgantown. Not worth an all-day drive. 

If priuces stay this high I may haul a trailer to Green bay this summer to visit the in-laws so I can load up at Menard's and Fleet Farm.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Do you have a Menards where you live?  We got one a few years ago and they have like 3 or 4 grades of lumber where Home Depot just has straight/expensive and curved/cheap.

Nope. But oh man, I wish we did!

I don't know if I'd trade it for Wegmans and Wawa, but I'd happily give you Royal Farms in exchange

[MK]

Have you seen plywood prices lately? Its not any better in that aisle.

Doing the math, you can cut eleven 4" "stringers" from a sheet of 4x8 plywood.  We lose one due to the kerf of the cutting blade.  These would be 8 ft long instead of the 6' ones for $9.50 each.  Even if the ply is $75 a sheet (which I don't think it is), that's less than $6.80 a stringer and they are two feet longer than the 6' ones.  Granted the pine might be a little stiffer but I think these will be used to tie things together.

Of course if Ed doesn't want to deal with the cutting then that's another story.  Convenience vs. savings.   

[reinhardtjh]

Doing the math, you can cut eleven 4" "stringers" from a sheet of 4x8 plywood.  We lose one due to the kerf of the cutting blade.  These would be 8 ft long instead of the 6' ones for $9.50 each.  Even if the ply is $75 a sheet (which I don't think it is), that's less than $6.80 a stringer and they are two feet longer than the 6' ones.  Granted the pine might be a little stiffer but I think these will be used to tie things together.

Of course if Ed doesn't want to deal with the cutting then that's another story.  Convenience vs. savings.   

If you cut them to 3.5" to equal the actual size of a standard 1x4 then you should get 13 (48/3.5=13.7) with just a smidge left over. Making that around $5.77/stringer.

[MK]

If you cut them to 3.5" to equal the actual size of a standard 1x4 then you should get 13 (48/3.5=13.7) with just a smidge left over. Making that around $5.77/stringer.

I like it!  Better math! 

[davefoxx]

If you cut them to 3.5" to equal the actual size of a standard 1x4 then you should get 13 (48/3.5=13.7) with just a smidge left over. Making that around $5.77/stringer.

Do you even need a 3-1/2" width stringer?  At the distance that Ed is spanning, wouldn't a 3" or even a 2-1/2" width piece of plywood suffice?  You'd bring the cost per stringer down even more.

DFF

[LKOrailroad]

You need the 3-1/2" if Tortoise switch machines are used. Otherwise, they hang below the benchwork.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

You need the 3-1/2" if Tortoise switch machines are used. Otherwise, they hang below the benchwork.

Good point, but that's what fascia is for!