This BUILT-IN LUMBER HACK Will Help You Build Anything! (Understanding FACTORY EDGE--How To Use It!)
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Many DIYers don't realize that one of their best tools for building and squaring up projects comes with every piece of sheet lumber they buy. This short video from The Honest Carpenter will explain secrets of the FACTORY EDGE!
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This BUILT-IN LUMBER HACK Will Help You Build Anything! (Understanding FACTORY EDGE--How To Use It!)
The term FACTORY EDGE refers to the finished edge of a piece of sheet lumber that has passed all the way through the milling process. So, a factory edge is simply one of the four edges of a piece of sheet lumber.
In carpentry in particular, the factory edge is sort of sacred. It's something that we try to protect and preserve on a job site.
This is because, when a piece of sheet lumber leaves the mill/factory, it's squareness is essentially perfect! All of the corners and sides are guaranteed to be square to one another.
Carpenters can then use these perfect edges and corners to lay out lumber in grids extending across floors, walls and roofs, knowing that consecutive sheets will stay square relative to the original edge.
Also, we use factory edges to SQUARE UP the things we build.
I demonstrated ways last week to find and maintain squareness in a structure, large or small. But in the field, carpenters will often use factory edges to quickly find or determine square.
I'll use factory edges to line up the edges of boxes, or even floors. Knowing that the factory edge is perfectly square gives me a reference to trust when I don't want to spend time using the other methods.
Also, factory edges give us reliable points to PULL MEASUREMENTS from. Once a sheet has been cut, it can be hard to determine if the new cut edge is reliably straight or square to the other edges.
So, carpenters and woodworkers will be sure to pull measurements from factory edges when laying out cut lines. They're the only edges we can routinely trust!
Next time, if you're looking to determine if something is square, consider simply using the perfectly square factory edge that comes with our sheet lumber goods.
Thanks for watching!
The Honest Carpenter - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Accuracy increases as the build process moves along. The foundation guys work to a 1/2", the framers work to a 1/4" the drywall guys work to an 1/8", the trim carpenter works to a 1/16" and the millwork guys work to a 1/32" or better. Precision matters a lot more in the later stages of home construction.
Wow... that's an awesome guide. I see all these people knocking the video instead of making a constructive comment like yours. It seemed to me, he was talk'n about construction from the foundation/framing, but I'm new to DIY, & tend to double/triple ck everything b4 cutting anyway.
I remember someone said measure 2x cut once... so I've tried to live by that motto, as lumber is so expensive.
But I really appreciate your comment, as it explains a lot about the comment war going on from such a seemingly simple video. Kudos 👏
Great comment
@@leahrowe847depends what you are building too. Being slightly off on something that no one even sees really doesnt matter. Especially tiny gaps. Wood expands and contracts too
I think the factory edge on sheet goods is fairly square. However, as a woodworker, I never trust the factory edge as they are almost never square enough for high quality cabinets or custom furniture. The first process in making cabinets is to cut off the factory long edge and then cut a square short edge.
Definitely. I've bought some plywood where that factory edge is *not* dead straight.
Straight enough for most building construction or other large scale projects, but not for more precise work.
Agreed, framing carpenters can live with some slight inaccuracies. House walls often have corners that are up to 0.5˚ from perfect 90˚, when making form-fitting wall cabinets/shelves we have to match these imperfections in order to avoid gaps.
I mean, he literally referenced that at 3:33
Huge difference between building cabinets and building houses. This video is talking about the painted lines/edges on construction materials.
true, the smaller/finer the piece the more accurate you need to be and shouldn't just use construction lumber's edges to get true square.. but for most starting off, building a work bench or something it'll do
I did this today intuitively while making some cuts. I'm happy to know that it actually has a name!
You sir are an excellent speaker, and an excellent teacher, and a fantastic resource to all of us DIYer's, thank you for sharing the benefits of your training and experience
I've always relied on factory edges. It makes squaring all other edges so much more accurate and easier overall. Thanks for highlighting this tip.
Thanks, TorBoy!
Hell, I use the a factory edge to make sure my shots are true down range. 🤣
But seriously now, all edges should be checked for squareness. A good T-square helps.
@@harryl7946 A t-square can be out of square if it has been dropped. Also I’ve built many houses in Mexico, their sheathing can be out of square. But here in Canada Or the US, I would trust the factory edges to be square.
giving advice to trust the factory edge to always be square is good way to get yourself in trouble, you'll learn this lesson eventually and then you'll check every sheet.
As a newer employee at a cabinet shop, I'll contribute. We always cut the factory edges off first before any other cuts. Our vertical beam saw trues it up and the off-cut shows how bad factory edges can be. Over 8 feet, they are usually off by a 1/16th, if not as much as an 1/8th.
I was just informed that our raw stock sheets are 49 x 98 and meant to be cut for cabinets, so they aren't squared up from the factory. After I cut the short end and then rotate it 90 degrees and cut again, I have a guaranteed square edge to work from.
We do the same thing in my cabinet shop, although building tolerances are much more forgiving in carpentry. And we have sliding panel table saw to easily make square cuts on raw sheets, whereas in the field, it’s much more difficult to make efficient and accurate square edges along a whole sheet.
That's fair, you are building cabinets though, which is essentially entirely finish work. I think you'd all agree that rough framing and cabinet making couldn't be further apart in terms of building things from wood.
This is a huge difference between shop work vs. on-site work. With a fixed shop location, you can invest in equipment and procedures that deliver very high precision but would be difficult to move. Doing on-site work that's almost never possible.
Something being off by 1/16th in 8 feet is an error of 1 part in 8*16 = 128, less than a 1% error. Even off by 1/8th is a 1 part in 64 error, a ~1.5% error. When you have to do the vast majority of your work with a tape measure, a pencil, a speed or framing square, and a circular saw (or maybe a miter saw), how confident can you be that you're always working to a precision of better than 1%? I certainly try, but I doubt I'm consistently that precise at every aspect. And even if every carpenter on the job is, are all those tapes and squares calibrated so that they agree with each other within 1%? I doubt it with some of the old tapes and squares I've seen being used.
Point is, it's totally fair to note the lack of precision that you can get in a factory edge; definitely a good thing to be aware of and there are applications where it matters. But compared to the precision you'll get from even experienced carpenters using only hand tools on-site, you're almost always well within the precision of your other processes.
So true about factory edges when it comes to squaring. Thanks and love the tips and tricks you share in all your videos.
It's amazing to see how much you love your work. Keep rocking ❤️
I really enjoy your videos. Not too long, always on point and provide great information! Keep 'em coming.
The last couple years, since the shortage/price hike, I've seen entire bundles that are a couple degrees out of square. Almost feels sacrilegious to cut away factory edges, but we're all doing what we gotta do.
Same... We even had a whole bunk of tongue and groove floor ply with poorly milled grooves. They were placed too low, like almost an eighth. It was a fucking nightmare. It usually takes me 15 seconds to grab a sheet (a flat one) slam it down, set the seam and nail each corner. These beasts were taking 5 mins a sheet. We send a bill to the lumber company 👍 🔨 🇺🇸
@@9mmkahr that’s exactly what you should do… did they pay it though?
@@G__Mason not sure, I passed it on to the company owner, but he didn't seem to care much. Oh well, I'm hourly 😆
I have seen a huge decline in quality. Not just wood products either !!
Thank You for your video. Many DIY’s do not know that the factory edges are “straight and square” for construction.
But ….
OK I’m that woodworker. The factory edge are good in construction, but in cabinetry (at least on cabinet grade) the edges are neither straight nor square enough for high end cabinets or furniture work.
I've forever been tainted and forced to check my plywood after a barn door build a few months ago where 3 of my 6 4x8 3/4 CDX sheets had factory edges from 1/8-3/16" out of square. I couldn't figure out why my T-Square wasn't agreeing with my marks. I blamed the square because I trusted factory edges that much. After some checking, it was the plywood. I'm sure it was just a bad batch but I feel forced to check for the rest of my life. Sad lol but 10 years of square factory edges isn't a bad run.
I've learned not to trust factory edge when building custom built-ins, both because of inconsistent thickness and out of square. That's where the track saw shines.
That’s crazy! There are some small mills out there-it does make me wonder how it all gets quality controlled
@@TheHonestCarpenter These sheets were from Lowes so I can't say I was buying from the best local lumberyard. With that said, I've always had good luck with their poplar cabinet plywood.
Woodworker here, and I endorse your advice. First, I agree with you and like this tutorial. We are a precision-obsessve group to be sure, but I always use a factory as a reference edge to roughly break down my sheet material, and add in some slop. Then I can later rip off the 'factory' edge based on the parallel cut where I need it. That way, I get a square component, and also get rid of the dinged-up edge.
I am a newbie novice woodworker and I really appreciate you taking the time to educate all like me in the correct basics and safe, successful habits of woodworking!
Don't trust the factory edge, ever.
Great tip. As a DIYer this will help add a little more accuracy to my projects.
30 seconds in and I liked. I always look to see if I have a factory edge in my cut offs. Looking at the comments, some peeps are missing the point. It's not about being "square" it's about that one edge being straight! Once you have a straight edge all of the misscut angles are your own fault
Honest man... very likeable guy... Thanks for the videos.
Great tip! Keep them coming. Love your videos.
Love your program. Very helpful. Thank-you. You explain things in an easy to understand manner.
Great stuff, as always. Thank you for sharing your experience!
When I get a sheet and I know I'm going to chop it up, I put four marks on the corner. So even when I cut, know if I'm dealing with a factory edge or not. You just transfer the corner mark to the edge before cutting it up. Or if the edge is messed up, you can create your own perfectly square sheet. But you'll need a tracksaw and some square rails to do it properly. I find that doing it on a tablesaw is too cumbersome. And never trust the panel saw at the big box store. It's usually not an issue since no one is ever around to help you. LOL
I definitely avoid those panel saws, hangsang!
Love this tip. I very rarely get to use whole sheets in my projects.
@@TheHonestCarpenter I usually ask them to cut up my sheets at the panel saw so they fit in my car, but I know they're trash. I always mark the factory edge and ask them to cut at least 1/2" more than I need the pieces to be so I can bring them home to my good saw. I saw them with the factory edge up against the fence and still leave about 1/8 extra on the cut width so I can turn it around and use my straight fresh-cut edge to take off the factory edge so I have clean, parallel edges for whatever I'm building. It's tedious, but it gets the best results until I get a truck to haul full sheets. I've also been tempted to bring my circ saw and make my cuts in the parking lot.
@@DrewTauber I've brought a saw and cut-list and cut in the parking lot.
@@joshuajones8455 I like your style
Your videos are like reminders of the fundamental practices. Very important, yet sometimes easy to forget. Great videos!
Thank you, Ryan!
Thanks again for your help Ethan. I'll try to remember that for future projects.
You are the "factory edge" of carpentry videos! Keep up the great work.
Always enjoy your videos. Thank you.
Thanks! Very helpful for this beginner!
You're a great teacher. Thank you.
I used the factory edge to make a saw guide for my circular saw. Worked like a charm and gives me straight cuts.
I swear I learn something from every video you make. Thank you! 👍
I love this site. Always teaches me something. Thank you Ethan
Always great tips. Much appreciated. 👍
In rough carpentry, using a factory edge as a straight edge is a god send. It speeds up the construction of bulk heads and other forms considerably.
I’ve never thought about this. Thanks!
I learned a valuable lesson today. Thank you!! 👍🏻
i’ve had a giant framing square made from 1/4” plywood using two factory edges.
have had it for 25 years.
very useful and doesn’t go out of square.
i just finished watching your video on the assembly table made with a solid core door.
i’m making one.
love that idea.
thank you
Great advice. Thanks for time in explaining. Have a great day.
Great information and tip. Thanks!
You are good sir! Your delivery is among the very best of all the videos I watch and I greatly appreciate how well you present to us!
Thank you, Merlin! 🙂
Thank you for all the info & tips!!!!
This is one of those things you always knew but is nice to hear about.
Always great information spoken
I have an 8' x 6" piece of mdf with the factory edge I cut from a full sheet. I've used it as a straight edge for a little over three years. It was either that or spring for a festool track saw. 😂
I’ve done that a lot, Lucas!
Thanks for this. I thought it was going to be obvious, but you included a lot of stuff I didn’t know. Cheers!
Very good to know! Thanks!
so helpful to the newbies! thank you!
Good as always!
Excellent, informative video
I love how you so concisely put into words and images these concepts, principles and methods that I just take for granted after working in the trades for so long. I'd have never thought to do a video about such a basic concept that I use almost daily. That's why you are my favorite!
Thank you, Nate! 😄
@@TheHonestCarpenter youre welcome buddy! You are doing a great service to the general public and DIYers alike.
Great advice for using the factory edge.
I wallow in 99.9% in steel, but I learn a fair lot from you here. Thank you... and my current in progress home renovation thanks you also.
Another great video. That's for explaining this.
Another great video. i know when I am storing wood in the shop that I am always trying to protect the factory edge when I can so It doesn't get banged up.
Absolute great teaching!
I've been building freestanding garage shelving today and used your Pythagorean trick from last week to check it was all squared. Thanks!
That’s awesome, David!
very helpful, thank you!
Another video where I learned something or better reinforced what I knew. Thanks !
When I worked at the Dulles Airport expansion in the early 90's we used high density plywood shipped from Finland , and the sheets were 20' x 8' x 3/4" , so each sheet had the square footage of 5 sheets of regular plywood . How many people can say they've seen that ?
Never that big. Thats couple forklift to lift big
I like your show...I'm a Carpenter, your super knowledgeable. I've picked up some good tips from ya.
Making every job easier - thanks!👍
Spot on, factory edges are so useful. Cut edges are very hard to square up. On a side note I would run the chop saw cutting the lumber, they were surprised when they asked for a dimension and it was spot on LOL!
That wax some great tips for the flat sheets, I must check out flat sheets next time I go to the hardware store here in Melbourne Australia, hope to see you again soon.
Very informative.
You're my hero, and I feel a little dumb. DIY'er here, turning my van into a motorhome and have had a very hard time with straight lines and such. Knowing what I need to look for, however, is SUPER helpful, and should lessen the stress considerably!
Also, look up the 345 rule it will help you check things to make sure they are square.
As always, great n useful info. Thanks
Great tip.
Factory edges on sheet goods are great for rough framing. Buts it's called rough for a reason. I have dial calipers for woodworking...for a reason. It's also the voids in plywood that you have to watch out for. If a batch has 10% failure at a factory inspection, the entire batch may be sold to a homeowner's store and the 10% voids won't really matter. But in a cabinet shop, 10% can make or break your profit.
Very well done I did not know that thank you so much for sharing
I'm not in that field and never really have heard the term factory edge. Thanks for the info.
Thanks. Anytime I'm doing a project and grab a piece of cut sheet lumber big enough for the job, the first thing I check is to see if it still has at least one factory edge to pull and square from. Definitely saves time and work if it does.
Yep, I do the same thing, Steve! I flip it around until I find the factory, then mark it 👍
Thanks for the pro tips!
Good info! Thanks for sharing.
I’m not sure if anyone else has experienced this but most times I buy 3/4” plywood from home depot it can be up to 5/16” out of square. Lp smart side was always perfect and 7/16” osb was always within 1/16” or perfect
It happened to me several times
I literally have to square up every piece of plywood i have gotten
I had a kid cut 40" from a sheet of plywood at HD. He measured by having the plywood on it's edge, while he measured it. The sheet was bent like a bow and arrow. He then argued with me that the measurements will be exactly the same as laying it down flat and measuring. So, I had him measure, and mark the board where he would cut it. Then I laid it down. I said, now measure the 40" and according to you "they should be exactly the same". He was literally off by about six inches. Then he says well we don't guarantee accurate cuts. To which I replied I don't guarantee purchase either. He was pissed. Wouldn't say another word to me. It was also stupid that those saws have a precise measuring tool on them...so easy.
100%. I had a whole unit of 3/4 LP birch finished ply from HD that was not only out of square but slightly curved like a banana. Running a dry line corner to corner there would be a fat 1/8” gap or hump dep on which side of the sheet. We dealt with it by straightening one long edge with a track saw and then breaking down the sheets. But it was a royal PITA and cost many hours of production. That same unit had all kinds of delaminating problems too. I was told the “banana” can happen in production If the adhesive is not completely cooled when the sheets are final cut and stacked.
Same here. HD sheetrock, too. Recently the short edge of a 12' piece was off by ¾". I learned a valuable lesson.
that is awesome, thanks for the info ...
Great advice
Great info! Thanks!
Love the channel Ethan. Have learned more from just watching but I would rather be doing.
I was wondering why some of the Lumber at Lowes was already pre-marked, now I know what it was. That Factory Edge marking makes it nearly impossible to not put a floor down on the studs perfectly. Thanks.👷🏿♂️
Exactly, W! 😄
The color and number of stripes on ply or OSB also tells us what that sheet of lumber is to make sure you are charged properly at checkout.
Yup, I learned something new here as well.
Floor down on studs? No such thing
That is not the intended purpose for the stripes, but it is useful. The purpose for the stripes is for the cashier to identify what material you have so they know what to charge. Pay attention next time you check out and you'll see they have a binder with all the various stripes and colors with prices or a bar code next to it.
The factory edge also comes into play with carpet installing. But only for measuring. You never seam 2 pieces of carpet together with a factory edge. 😎👍
Thanks, Jase!
Great info and helpful tip- wow!! Makes sense..👍❤️🥰
How true! Great video, thanks.
Thanks Ethan. Too bad I did not know these tips when I built my first cottage. But I am using it going forward as I do other projects. Good video.
i have found most OSB and plywoods to be square, at least square enough for all framing, rough carpentry etc. however, if you are building cabinets, i have found melamines and mdf to be out of square 1/8-3/16 based on the diagonal corner to corner measure...and that is using a combination square on the corners so any faults or round overs are eliminated
This has been my experience as well. For rough framing the factory corners are plenty square. But when I started building cabinets I couldn't figure out why they were always a little bit off. After a lot of trial and error I determined that most the plywood I got did not have square corners. Once I started squaring all the corners on my sheets and stopped assuming the factory edge was square enough I started getting perfect cabinets.
Great information 👍 👌 Peace and good fortune and good health to you and your family. 😃
Awesome, Thank You 🙏
Coming from a furniture background we were always urged to square up our sheet goods ourselves. Great video though. Thanks for posting.
Really interesting video. Very informative. UK 👍👽
Good tip, this is particularly true for engineered materials like the OSB you demonstrate or MDF, and chipboard. Cheap materials like hardboard, and compounds like plywood or glued up boards may not be as exact, a factory might not always bother to fix a machine that is just one or two degrees out of square. Bottom line you can't assume but it is definitely a useful reference.
love your videos
Nice job.
This is so true in whatever country you work in
That was great! I have seen markings on sheet goods but I did not know why they were there. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks John! There’s a secret language to some of these markings-I’ll try to touch on the topic sometime. 🙂
@@TheHonestCarpenter I am looking forward to it.
Great feature. So many people fail to teach beginners and there is a market for that and you do such a great job at it. I will add that sometimes the factory edge - while square is a bit rough so for a furniture person - you really do take the extra step in fine sanding but for what you are doing - ya. it's perfect 90.
Thanks Ethan! Should help setting up pegboard on my unfinished basement walls!
You’re welcome, bearfan! I did the same thing with my back wall in the shop 🙂
Thank you for the tip 😀
Thank you!
Very interesting.
Awesome video thank you
In the video you show lining up the trusses with the factory lines on the OSB running horizontally 8 feet. On a new house the OSB was applied vertically on the walls, horizontally on the roof. I am using OSB inside the garage to cover the walls and make like an I-beam or a box beam to get more wind resistance. I have the lines turned to the inside of the wall so the smooth side is on the outside, so that I don’t get splinters every time I brush up against the wall. I like to attach the metal shelves (that stand on the floor) to the walls so that a 7 foot tall contraption doesn’t tip over on me. I’m not sure why the lines should face you when you’re nailing, other than what you showed about lining up the trusses. I noticed many of the studs are slanted, not plumb. It seems builders cover everything with OSB and then cut out the windows and doors which wastes a lot of expensive OSB. I’ve been struggling with what to do should I decide to convert the garage from storage to living. I have to apply the OSB so that it’s easy to remove a window opening. On the gable end the window headers are above the wall., So the window can be 30 inches Wide by removing one stud. 30 x 36 looks nice but 30 x 48 looks better. Well a 4 foot high window on a 9 foot wall, how much light does it let in? My whole subdivision has no windows on the side of the house. It must have something to do with the fire code. After the Louisville Colorado fire, fire protection is something to consider. If the house next-door is burning down, which is not as uncommon as you might think, they say the fire will blow out the windows to get to the oxygen in the garage. Another consideration every double pane window wider than 18 inches fails miserably with water vapor between the panes. In short I’m using OSB to brace the corners of a 24 foot long wall. I added extra hold downs since I’m in a wind zone rated 120 mph for three seconds. I can’t buy 9 foot long OSB here in Denver. Why? So it makes sense to run the bottom 4 foot of wall horizontally and the top 5 feet vertically in the corner for a tornado load. Well the OSB stiffens the wall but very little is holding the roof trusses to the wall.
In finished carpentry for cabinetry, expensive veneer plywood isn’t as reliable apparently as framing plywood. We always had to recut to be sure.