Appreciation post: The guy at the lumber yard who stopped me from buying bad studs

Honestly, last weekend I was at Lowe's grabbing lumber for a shed foundation. I picked out a stack of 2x4s that looked straight enough, but this older employee walked over and pointed out they were all cupped and twisted. He showed me how to check each one by sighting down the edge, and I ended up swapping half my pile. Does anyone else rely on yard staff to catch their rookie mistakes or am I just bad at picking wood?

2 comments

2 Comments

ninasanchez6d ago

lol I literally just watched a video about this exact thing where a framer was saying you should always check each piece of lumber by looking down the edge like that. I had no idea about cupping and twisting before that and I bet I've brought home some real junk in the past without knowing it. That employee probably saved you a ton of headache down the road because nothing is worse than building something and realizing your frame is all wobbly because of bad wood. It's not that you're bad at picking wood, it's just one of those things nobody tells you until you mess up a few times lmao.

christopher3856d ago

Yeah that part about checking by looking down the edge is such a simple trick but it makes a huge difference. @ninasanchez you're right that nobody ever tells you this stuff until you've already wasted money on warped boards. I've definitely been that guy who just grabs whatever looks straight from the top and ends up with a frame that's all wobbly because I didn't notice the twist. The worst part is you don't even realize it's bad until you're halfway through building and things aren't lining up right. It's one of those lessons you have to learn the hard way unless you happen to catch the right video or have someone point it out. That employee probably saved them from tearing their hair out later.