A question just out of curiosity: where do you get your lumber? I'm in Overland Park, KS, so I don't have probably the same selection as you may. The big orange box store, the big blue box store, the big green box store, mostly. The prices are hilarious, the quality even more so. And with our climate (frigid to sweltering, bone dry to swampy, different daily), most of the 1x lumber we get from those places has more warp than Starfleet, and that's the good stuff. For TV flats, we've taken to ripping BC ply (what isn't Pringles from the store) into strips for framing, and making 2x4 platform frames. Bulk orders from a lumber yard? Grab as needed?
That is the challenge. The box stores have always had middling to poor grade lumber selection. I’ve found cultivating a good relationship with an actual lumber yard provides the best options. That said, the quality of available #2 or better pine 1x12 has been declining since the pandemic. No idea if it will bounce back. Usually that means more wasted lumber when ripping down to 1x3 or 1x6. But I always prefer to buy 1x12 and rip it to the widths I need. It gets worse if you buy 1x3 or 1x6. A lot of the industry does use a plywood substitute for solid lumber in scenery construction. 3/4” ply is going to make all your scenery heavier tho. I understand you can buy it milled to your build size and in lengths longer than 8’. But do you have that kind of option in KS? Probably unlikely. I used to use BD grade ply because it was more available at some of the box stores and cheaper than AC, but haven’t seen it on any shelves here in years. I try to find a 7+ layer version of 3/4” AC plywood whenever possible. I’ll try to find some product names that you can search for or ask if local places can get. Or start spending the premium to buy the better grade or clear 1x12 pine. (Don’t go near Douglas Fir solid lumber though. Always stick with pine. Doug Fir may be cheaper but it is usually much poorer quality lumber than pine.)
I also imagine because demand for lumber went up during the pandemic and the supply couldn’t keep up that some lumber mills are speeding up the process to keep the supplies moving and perhaps harvesting trees to early or not letting the lumber dry as much before cutting to size or something in that range of actions that is affecting the quality of the lumber for the end user. Buy larger dimensional lumber, cut it to the size you need, and expect more waste than we are used to?
These are so good. What a great way to make these lessons accessible.
A question just out of curiosity: where do you get your lumber? I'm in Overland Park, KS, so I don't have probably the same selection as you may. The big orange box store, the big blue box store, the big green box store, mostly. The prices are hilarious, the quality even more so. And with our climate (frigid to sweltering, bone dry to swampy, different daily), most of the 1x lumber we get from those places has more warp than Starfleet, and that's the good stuff. For TV flats, we've taken to ripping BC ply (what isn't Pringles from the store) into strips for framing, and making 2x4 platform frames. Bulk orders from a lumber yard? Grab as needed?
That is the challenge. The box stores have always had middling to poor grade lumber selection. I’ve found cultivating a good relationship with an actual lumber yard provides the best options.
That said, the quality of available #2 or better pine 1x12 has been declining since the pandemic. No idea if it will bounce back. Usually that means more wasted lumber when ripping down to 1x3 or 1x6. But I always prefer to buy 1x12 and rip it to the widths I need. It gets worse if you buy 1x3 or 1x6.
A lot of the industry does use a plywood substitute for solid lumber in scenery construction. 3/4” ply is going to make all your scenery heavier tho. I understand you can buy it milled to your build size and in lengths longer than 8’. But do you have that kind of option in KS? Probably unlikely.
I used to use BD grade ply because it was more available at some of the box stores and cheaper than AC, but haven’t seen it on any shelves here in years. I try to find a 7+ layer version of 3/4” AC plywood whenever possible.
I’ll try to find some product names that you can search for or ask if local places can get. Or start spending the premium to buy the better grade or clear 1x12 pine. (Don’t go near Douglas Fir solid lumber though. Always stick with pine. Doug Fir may be cheaper but it is usually much poorer quality lumber than pine.)
We don’t have enough storage to buy too much in bulk. Though there’s talk of trying to do more of that and create more storage next season.
I also imagine because demand for lumber went up during the pandemic and the supply couldn’t keep up that some lumber mills are speeding up the process to keep the supplies moving and perhaps harvesting trees to early or not letting the lumber dry as much before cutting to size or something in that range of actions that is affecting the quality of the lumber for the end user. Buy larger dimensional lumber, cut it to the size you need, and expect more waste than we are used to?