Extra information on WWPA Sizes

The American Lumber Standards Committee has announced that the 1968 Western Wood Products Association grading rules have not been submitted to, nor approved by the ALS Board of Ilt:view, and do not conform to the curr()nt American Lumber Standard, SPR 16'53' As WWPA stated recentll. its new grading rules'oconstitute a WWPA STANDAITD not an American Lumber Standard."

Thc new rules contain separate tables o{ minimum sizes for greetr and drv lumber, identical to sizes recommt'nded b,v the American l-umber Standard-. Committee for revision of SPII 16-513. N'Iany o{ the sizes in tho new alternate WWPA rules are less lhan tht, minimum sizes in thr- rurrent American Lumber Standard. These sizes will continue to be shown on grade marks under the new alternate WWPA rulcs. as thcy are currcntly under their 1965 rules. and as requircd under SPR 16'53.

W\\IPA says stress values assigned ulrder their new rules have been developcd in accurdance with new ASTM standards.

Grade marks under WWPA's rrcw rulcs can be distinguished from gradc marks under their 1965 AlS-approvcd rules a's follows:

(l) In the grade mark {or lumber graded under the nerv rules. the mill numbcr always appears dirt'ctly above the WWPA trademark instead of in tlrt: celrter of the stamP;

(2) Where grades have been changed by the ncw rules, the gradc nomenclature is difierent, and is part of the mark (i.e., "No. 1" instead of "Construction");

More G-P Purchqses in No. Colif.

Directors o{ the Georgia-Pacific Corp. have approved the purchase of the Abor' igine Lumber Co. stud mill at Ft. Bragg, Calif., including an agreement for cutting rights to an adjacent 75 million bf. of timber.The price was in excess of $ 100.000.

The mill will continue to opcrate as before and no changes of personnel art: planned, according to a G-P spokesman. The operation becomcs part of G-P's Samoa Div.

The board also approved purchase of Rounds, Inc.. a Nlendocino County tree farm in northern California consisting mainly of llll.000 acres oI merchantable timber plus a 3,400 acre tract of re'growth timber.

'l'he purchase calls for an exchange of Ilounds' assets for $10 million in Georgia' Pacific common stock.

(3) X'Iany of the new grade marks will contain symbols designating joist and rafter sPans;

(a) The grade mark for unseasoned lumber dressed to green sizes in the new rules u'ill include the designation of "UNSD" in addition to the size.

New sizes are being published in response to an obvious demand. They have been accepted for some time bY Fed- eral Housing Administration, Defense Supply Agency and numerous building jurisdictions.

Nominal 2" thickness will be finished to not less rhan IYz" when dried to I9/o or less moisture content. and when fin' ished in the unseasoned state it must be not less than I-9/16" thick.

The sizes adoptcd are the same as those approved by 93/o o[ users in construction, as polled last year by the U.S. De' partment of Commerce, WIil''PA officials poirrted out.

New grade designations and configura' tion of the grade stamp itself will make thc changed grades readily identifiable.