Many people are excited for the price reduction that will come with the conversion from Vertical Grain Fir to Mixed Grain. Here is more detail about exactly what constitutes a Mixed Grain specification under the new Douglas Fir Program announced last month.
Below is a chart showing possible grain orientations depending on where in the log the board was taken. Notice that if you specify only Vertical Grain there are very few boards that will yield out of a log with this specification. This is why Vertical Grain wood is so expensive.
The new Douglas Fir program will specify Mixed Grain, meaning any mix of Flat Grain to Vertical Grain is acceptable. The wood quality and clarity specifications will not change; just the grain orientation and minimum grains per inch. This new Douglas Fir program will be very similar to the standard fir programs of many of our competitors.