Mill cuts are common in our lumber today, especially with machine evaluated lumber, so it is important to know how they should be addressed and used in your product. Mill cuts are random saw cuts or planer cuts not intended to have been made. Sometimes they do not present a problem. Other...

I freely admit that I have watched more than my share of house-hunting shows. My favorites fall into two categories – seeing homes (and prices) in US cities where I would consider moving next and seeing homes in international locations where I know I’ll never go (e.g., Southeast...

The simple answer to the title question, can designs be changed during manufacturing, is yes. But, the situation is rarely straightforward and simple in reality. The better question is: What considerations are necessary when making modifications to the design while manufacturing a truss? To...

What makes up a great Quality Assurance Program? As you’ll recall, I listed 9 essential components for good QA in an article last year, “How Does a Fabricator Gain From a 3rd Party Audit?”. It’s no surprise that each one is rooted in the personal, on-site interaction that...

In the November 2017 article, “So Who Exactly is Responsible for Lumber Quality?”, we discuss the abundance of quality building materials and the responsibility of the fabricator to evaluate their application in products. We should recall the ultimate decision maker in determining...

A critical plate is a plate with a Joint Stress Index of 80% or greater. The ANSI/TPI 1–2014 Standard stipulates that critical plate inspections must be conducted when completing the three inspections per station/per shift/per week requirement. On average, the standard requires one...

The most common problem typically encountered is excessive defects in the plated area of the truss. While some defects are acceptable in the plated area, the degree of defects depends on the actual joint situation and forces at the joint. Connector sizes are controlled by design, handling,...

Picking usable lumber involves more than just the initial grade stamp. We can think of the stamp as the first step, but we can’t stop there. Truss fabricators depend on the lumber supplier to provide effective grading protocols that will produce materials with predictable design values....

The lowly wedge sometimes gets very little respect. If your plant is doing it right, the wedges usually are cut from drops or culls. That’s a good way of doing it, and it sounds very simple, but not just any piece of wood is suitable for a wedge. There are important qualifications that...

It’s true that, by nature, the materials currently used for wood trusses can vary in strength and properties. Given a specific lumber size and grade, truss builders often need to evaluate lumber picked, cut, and provided to build the specific job at hand. After verifying the lumber grade,...