Construction lumber is always rounded. Its for handling so the sharp edges don't splinter or cut your hands so much. A sharp edge will bite pretty bad on occasion. When you are handling a lot of it fast, it gets bad real quick
Hardwood is never rounded, but the edges might not always be perfect either.
The radius is small. If you want to laminate construction lumber or something where you don't want the rounded edge, just rip ~1/8" off each side.
If you want soft wood, or any kind of wood really, that you can just buy and use for projects because it is perfect, it comes at a very high premium. Its often in the "craft" section and goes about 500% higher.
Most people will buy more than they need of the regular stuff, and work it into shape for the project. This is the practical way to go.
I could have bought pre-made lattice and cut it up to fit for my portico.
This would have been expensive and wasteful. Probably $25 with over 1/2 of that wasted due to the shape.
Instead I bought 2, 2X4's of nunber2 and better. ($3 each) Clear stock hat had horizontal grain (I sorted through dozens of boards to find those two.) I cut up my lattice strips from these. When you rip 1/8" strips of horizontal grain, you are now using what was the sides, and it becomes vertical grain!
I had some left over to use for other projects.
Every part of this portico, and the window trim too, came from very cheap or otherwise total junk wood. Poles were under a dollar apiece. There is part of an old water bed frame in there. Some salvage lumber from when an old building was torn down.
And parts of Bud Eastlick's old truck shop that was falling down up Luther Gulch.
The forms to pour the cement into and the stair form were both made from ruined plywood scavenged from other projects and some used lumber.
If you are working for other people you have to hurry and don't have time for anything else except just buying everything pre-made and slapping it up.
When you are doing it for yourself you don't have to be that dumb. You get to slow down and plan. Take the time to figure out what you really need and where you might be able to find it cheap, or even for free.
There are parts of an old bridge in there. Part of the bridge was rotten, so they ripped everything out, like mindless gorillas, and replaced it all.
I love this attitude!! I got some good stuff from those fools.
The old bridge was made from old growth stock chosen by real experts. It lasted nearly 50 years and only part of it was bad even then.
The new bridge was straight run craptastic Home Depot dreck.
I won't even bother to scrounge when they tear that back out in a few years.
yours Scott
