Potential of Finger-Jointed Lumber for Machine Stress-Rated Lumber Grades

Tensile strength and flatwise bending modulus of elasticity (E) data were developed on 202 pieces of 2- by 4-inch spruce-pine-fir finger-joined lumber sampled from mill production to estimate their potential for machine stress-rated (MSR) lumber grades. The MSR grade yield based on tensile strength and E requirements was found to be limited by the high variability in E values along the length of the members. Presence of finger-joints did not reduce the tensile strength potential of the short pieces of lumber used and had no effect on the regression of tensile strength on E for the finger-joined members. The potential of finger-joined lumber for MSR grades would be optimized by introduction of a system for sorting the shorts according to E prior to the finger-jointing operation.

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