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From Tree to Table · Part 3 of 9

Hardwood Thickness, Quarters, and Milling Terms

Commercial hardwood is sold by rough quarter thickness and milling state — not by the finished dimensions you will eventually need. You buy volume in board feet (a board foot is 144 cubic inches of wood), and widths and lengths vary by pack. If you need specific sizes, we can mill boards for you at a fair rate.

This is the chapter that clears up the most counter confusion at the counter. Someone asks for “one-inch walnut” and points at an S2S board measuring 13/16". Both of you are right — you are speaking different languages. Here is the vocabulary we use at Fells Hardwood Supply, and what to look for on bundle tags in the store.

The quarter system (4/4, 6/4, 8/4, etc.)

Thickness is named in quarters of an inch of rough stock before you joint and plane. Common examples — not a complete catalog:

  • 4/4 — about 1" rough → typically 13/16" or 3/4" finished after milling
  • 5/4 — about 1¼" rough → often finishes near 1"
  • 6/4 — about 1½" rough → often finishes near 1¼"
  • 8/4 — about 2" rough → often finishes near 1¾"

Dealers also carry other quarters (10/4, 12/4, 16/4, and more) depending on species and pack. Buy starting thickness for the finished size you need, plus allowance for snipe, twist, and a final skim pass. If your parts must finish at a full 1", start at 5/4 or 6/4 — not 4/4.

In the store, thickness is usually sorted in bins or bundles: 4/4 cherry here, 8/4 walnut there. The tag should say the quarter thickness even if the faces are already surfaced.

Widths and lengths vary

Dealer hardwood comes in varying widths and lengths within a pack — not one fixed size like a pre-cut 1×6×8. Some bundles are random length and width (RL/RW); others are width-sorted (“6–8" width cherry”) or width-specified. You are buying board footage to fill a cut list, not a SKU with fixed width and thickness.

Walk the cut list before you pull boards. A project that needs three 8" wide panels may require five boards from the store once you account for defects and grain match — not three identical boards from a shelf.

Milling designations

  • Rough sawn — off the mill, fuzzy and uneven. You joint one face, plane to thickness, rip to width. Maximum control, minimum mill cost.
  • Skip planed (hit or miss) — light passes to reveal grain for grading at the mill. Does not flatten the board. Do not confuse “I can see the grain” with “I can go straight to the table saw.”
  • S2S (surfaced two sides) — both faces planed to thickness; edges still rough. Surfacing two faces does not guarantee flatness at all — cup, bow, crook, and twist can remain or spring back after milling. Face-joint before you trust the thickness.
  • S3S — surfaced three sides: S2S plus one straight-line edge. You will often see S2S SL1E (straight-line one edge) on tags instead of “S3S” — same meaning.
  • SLR1E — straight-line ripped one edge (the SL1E step above). Saves a table-saw fence reference if the board is already flat enough.
  • S4S (surfaced four sides) — boards milled on all four faces, often sold by the linear foot. You pay for the milling time and the wood that became shavings.

End views below: purple/solid edges are milled; dashed edges are still rough. S2S does not guarantee flatness.

end view · rough faces & edges unfinished

Rough

Nothing surfaced yet — you mill everything in the shop.

end view · S2S 2 faces · not necessarily flat

S2S

Surfaced two sides (the faces). Edges still rough. Planed ≠ flat.

end view · S3S / S2S SL1E 2 faces + 1 straight edge

S3S (S2S SL1E)

S2S plus one straight-line edge — a rip/glue reference, still not a flatness guarantee.

end view · S4S all 4 sides milled

S4S

Faces and edges machined — convenience stock, usually thinner leftover for the same quarter.

Decode practice: Bring your phone to the store and we will walk a bundle tag together — species, grade, quarter thickness, surfacing, sort, and tally, one line at a time. Short FAQs: Rough, S2S, S3S, S4S · bow, cup, crook, twist.

Warp: why S2S is not the same as flat

Surfacing two faces does not make a board flat. A thickness planer follows the board’s existing shape. Cup (across the width), bow (along the length on the face), crook (along the length on the edge), and twist/wind (corners not in one plane) are different problems — wind is only one of them. Full FAQ with jointing order: bow, cup, crook, and twist.

Cup

Faces curve across the width.

Bow

Face curves along the length.

Crook

Edge curves along the length.

Twist / wind

Corners not in one plane.

Joint face, plane parallel, joint edge, rip second edge 1. Joint face 2. Plane parallel 3. Joint edge 4. Rip 2nd edge Hollow face to the jointer bed when you can — then plane, straighten one edge, rip the other.
Jointing order for a warped board. Detail and waste allowance: warp FAQ.

S4S vs. S2S — what we recommend

At Fells Hardwood Supply most boards are S2S or S2S SL1E. Rough is uncommon — only a few exotics come in that way. If you have a jointer and planer (or access to one), S2S lets you control final thickness and yield; S2S does not guarantee the board is already flat, so plan to joint and plane. If you need pieces milled and ready to use and accept paying for milling plus less leftover thickness, S4S is fine for small parts — but verify actual dimensions; an “S4S 1×4” may not match the nominal sizes you see on construction lumber.

See also: Should I buy S4S or S2S? · Bow, cup, crook, and twist