Tilling

FrameSmart Red Baltic Pine framing products are produced to comply with AS/NZS 1748, further, the material properties conform to AS1720.1 (1997 & 2010). FrameSmart Red Baltic Pine is available in MGP 10, MGP 12 and F5 Grades.

Pine products are graded in various ways depending upon their end usage. Broadly speaking, there are two types of pine products:

1. Appearance Products. These are products used in applications where visual characteristics are most important e.g. Lining boards, cladding, flooring, etc.

2. Structural Products. These products are used in structural applications where strength and stiffness characteristics are most important e.g. house framing.

In some cases a particular product may need to meet appearance as well as structural criteria, e.g. exposed beams or flooring.

There are three methods of grading currently used in Australia:
1. Visual grading involves the manual examination of a piece of timber and its assessment against a set of criteria. There are limits on characteristics such as knot size, slope of grain etc. Visual grading can be used for appearance as well as structural timber.

2. Mechanical Stress Grading is used for grading structural timber. The timber is fed through a machine that applies a load through a roller. The stiffness of the piece is determined based on its deflection, and a grade assigned. Mechanical grading is used for the majority of structural pine produced in Australia.

3. Mechanical Proof Grading also uses a machine to apply a load to the piece of timber as it passes through. In this case, however, the timber is loaded to a predetermined proof load. A piece of timber is accepted as belonging to a specific grade if it passes without breaking. Proof grading is used for structural timber only. A small volume of timber is graded in this manner.

References: Pine Australia Brochure: Pine Possibilities – An Introduction to Pine.