dumb greenhorn question

[paul case]

what is dunnage and blocking? i hear these terms and have to guess so what exactly do they mean and who uses these products? pc

[Tom]

Dunnage is used to brace and block stuff for shipping or storage.   It's the 4x4's on a flatbed truck that they stack other stuff on.

Blocking is hefty blocks of wood used for jacking stuff up.  It's used by railroad companies when they right  trains that have de-railed. It's the big blocks of wood stacked criss-cross when they jack a house up to be moved.   It's used in dry-docks to  hold the ship upright.

Check out the new Wood Glossary/Wood dictionary being put together on the forum.  There might be a link in Forum extras

[paul case]

thanks tom
i have cut some of that ,sold it, and even used it myself, but never heard it called such. flatbed cants=4x4's. blocking i have always heard called cribbing. pc

[r.man]

Where are you from Paul? Terms are often regional and we call house raising material cribbing here in Ontario. The times however are changing and this forum and others like it will be leading the change. When I was growing up my family usually spent one week a year visiting an aunt and uncle in New England and vise versa. When we were there we got teased about our accent and word usage and we did the teasing when they came north. Now we sound more alike than not. Except for colour, honour and the chesterfield that I put my running shoes on. ( its a big couch ) Here's to the global village.

[paul case]

northeast oklahoma usa   quapaw to be exact or thats my mailing adress anyhow. were so far out here in the boonies that we have to drive back toward town to hunt!
i went to college with some guys from up north and some from down south. our mexican brothers had a lot of trouble with our canadian brothers pronouncing about. a  boat.the canadians had about the same trouble understanding the mexicans. me too sometimes but i try to get it and if i cant i will be satisfied with just bits and pieces.sometimes i can even understand some of chris's posts. pc

[bandmiller2]

Ever notice how dunage ,blocking,and cribbing dissapears when you have it around,thats one thing they all have in common.Frank C.

[r.man]

Now that you mention it Frank I think that all of those pieces must shrink or dissolve over time. I barely have access to any and I know that I used to have a fair bit of it lying around here and there. Almost the same as rope, chain and wire of any type. Chris is easy to follow. Anyone who has trouble should just watch some British comedy or better still some of the music or stand-up that comes out of our eastern provinces. Great people and great music.

[paul case]

just plain entertaining! pc

[Ron Wenrich]

I have rarely heard the term dunnage.  If we want something for shipping, they're usually referred to a skids.  I usually cut a 3x4, especially from stuff that won't make blocking.

We refer to material that's going to the pallet plant in the form of cants as blocking. 

The bigger stuff usually are called timbers.  But, you'll also hear beams.  Ties also gets cut into switch (long ties 12' and longer) or bridge (timbers for RR bridges).

[r.man]

Do sawmills send cants to pallet mills to be resawn? I wired a Baker pallet mill a few years ago but it used full logs that were first debarked and then cut into bolt length before being processed by the all band Baker setup.

[Ron Wenrich]

In my area, pallet plants normally buy a 3 1/2 x 6 cant.  They'll buy a certain length to give them their desired runner or board length.  A 46 or 48" part would be made from an 8' or 12' cant.  They end trim the cant, then cut to the desired length.  Many will use a gang saw, but some may use the band resaws.  The parts are then used in an automatic pallet machine that nails and prepares pallets.  Some still build by hand, but they are usually specialty pallets.  We have very few bolter or scragg mills.

The reason is there is an abundance of cants.  The tie market has dried some of that up, but there still are plenty of mills sawing grade logs that will produce the cants from the hearts.  Your area may not have as many grade mills, so there would be less cant availability. 

[paul case]

r.man
yes is the answer .many pallet factories do buy cants for further processing..the one i sell to does this but they pay more for the board already cut to length and since im in this business to make some money and i have a saw i cut mine up. pc