Douglas Fir

Pseudotsuga menziesii

Industrial and Remanufacturing Products

Products for Industrial Applications

Industrial grades include, but are not limited to:
   Lam Stock (for glue-laminated beams)
   Stress-rated Boards (with assigned design values)
   Mining Timbers
   Scaffold Plank
   Foundation Timber
   Railroad Ties

Douglas fir holds the respect of industrial users worldwide, repeatedly meeting their demands for high performance. Industrial products include both structural and non-structural grades intended for specific end uses.

Structural grades include mining timbers, scaffold plank and foundation timber. Truss fabrication and formwork, tunnelling, trestles, bridges, stadiums, warehouses, storage facilities and factories all depend on Douglas fir. The species is highly resistant to mechanical abrasion and chemical reaction, thus often used in the fabrication of vats, tanks, containers, flumes, conduits, and similar industrial components that call for an inert material with long life under rigorous service conditions.

Douglas fir is chosen for sound barrier walls along freeways and for highway guardrails. It’s also found all across the railway tracks of North America. From rail car linings and track supports to railroad ties and cross planking, this western species, treated and untreated, provides long-lasting solutions to very tough jobs.

Stress-Rated Boards (nominal 1" Board products with assigned design values) are available in Douglas fir for use in light trusses, horizontal bracing, rafters, and box beams for factory built homes.

Lam Stock, nominal 2" (38 mm actual) and thinner by 3" (64 mm actual) and wider, is available in several grades. These grades are assessed for structural and visual characteristics. E-rated grades are mechanically tested for their exact long-span flatwise Modulus of Elasticity. Products are intended to be laid up longitudinally and bonded with adhesives. Structural laminations may be specified rough or surfaced, in various widths and thicknesses, and in unusual configurations to meet design criteria, e.g. engineered arches for churches, bridges and stadiums.

Today’s engineered, stress-laminated timber bridges of preservative pressure-treated* Douglas fir are strong, durable, cost-effective, time efficient to install, and often reduce the impact of construction on surrounding streamside ecosystems.

Specialized non-structural grades include an enormous array of Factory & Shop products(described below), as well as pickets, lath, battens, stepping, and gutters.

Products for Remanufacturing Applications

Factory & Shop grades include, but are not limited to:
   Moulding Stock (WWPA & WCLIB Rules)
   Shop Timber (WWPA & WCLIB Rules)
   Door Stock (WCLIB Rules)
   Flush Door Stock (WWPA Rules)
   Jamb & Head Stock (WWPA Rules)
   Clears (PLIB Rules)
   Merchantable (PLIB Rules)

Factory & Shop grade products are produced primarily for remanufacturing into doors, windows, furniture, frames, moulding and boxes. They are especially well suited for cross cutting to obtain clear pieces for joinery and millwork applications. When hardness is desired, in addition to fine appearance, Douglas fir rivals many of the softer hardwoods in this arena. It is easily machined to a smooth surface texture, glues and holds fasteners well, and resists the effects of wear under conditions of movement and jarring.

Douglas fir Factory & Shop** products are usually shipped in large quantities, mill-direct to remanufacturers. Many western sawmills can accommodate the special remanufacturing requirements of international customers through buyer/seller agreements.

*Please refer the SEC website to order the publication, Wood That Works, Wood That Lasts for information on preservative pressure-treated Douglas fir.

**Please refer to the SEC publication, Western Softwood Species & Grades, for more detailed information on Factory & Shop grades.

Factory & Shop timber grades are intended to be ripped and/or crosscut to recover desirable pieces in standard sizes for remanufacturing purposes. Products are graded according to WWPA, WCLIB and Export R-List rules with other options available through buyer/ seller agreement. Products are carefully seasoned prior to surfacing. Examples of these two grades are shown in Figures 5 and 6.

Figure 5: NO.4 CLEAR (Export Export R-List Rules) is recommended and widely used internationally as a multi-purpose remanufacturing product. Each piece is well manufactured. Irregularities on reverse face can be slightly in excess of those allowed on the face.

Figure 6: 6/4 RWL NO.1 SHOP (WWPA Rules) reflects the grading principles behind typical U.S. factory-type timber. This grade will yield from 50% to 70% of No.1 Door Cuttings, except that pieces containing one or more NO.1 Door Cuttings will permit one No.2 Stile. Not over two Muntins are included in any piece. The intended recovery of standard-sized pieces, which influences, along with allowable characteristics, the assigned grade, is indicated by lines on the photograph.

Figure 5 Figure 6

PHOTOGRAPH: RYA HATA

Douglas fir’s straight, uniform grain combined with high density yields exquisitely handsome, high-performance doors.

Factory & Shop products, the “economical clears” of softwood timber grades, are prized for doors, windows, shutters and a variety of cabinets, case goods and furniture.

Inba House in Chiba, Japan (here and opposite page) received Best of Residential Design of the Year in the American Wood Design Awards 2000 competition. Douglas fir was used for post-and-beam structural members, millwork and fittings. Architects: Takano Design Produce/Yasuyuki Takano+ Nobuo Aoto.

Balcony corner post of Douglas fir.

Modern stress-laminated, preservative pressure-treated Douglas fir bridges offer cost-effective solutions with low environmental impact.

Preservative pressure-treated Douglas fir pilings and boardwalks are ideal for fresh and salt-water installations.