Grading
Wood flooring comes with a range of natural features such as a different grain, colour variety, knots, sapwood and heart wood.
Knots are the visible remnant of branches sprouting from the tree trunk. They are harder, darker and with a tighter grain.
Sapwood is the part on the outside of the trunk below the bark. It is the younger part of the tree and is usually lighter in colour than the rest of the wood.
Heartwood sits in the centre of the tree and is the older part of the trunk. It is usually darker and with a tighter grain.
There may also be cracks, flecks and rays in the wood. All these features together are commonly known as Character. The amount of visible character in the floor is selected by the process of Grading.
Grading is a staged process that starts at selecting the tree trunks,
followed by the visual selecting of the cut raw material and finally, after kiln-drying and production of the flooring, the boards are separated according to their grades.
Although many people think that grading is a reflection of quality, it is actually a visible
selection of the amount of allowed character in the boards. The different grades are determined after production and therefore the wood and the production processes are of the same quality.
A Prime grade is not a better quality material than a Rustic grade but contains less characteristic features. Because there is less material with few or no character in a tree, you will often find the cleaner grades to be more expensive than the more characterful grades.
Grading is not an exact science and some variation is allowed. Different manufacturing mills may use slightly differentgrading criteria.
Wood flooring comes with a range of natural features such as a different grain, colour variety, knots, sapwood and heart wood.
Knots are the visible remnant of branches sprouting from the tree trunk. They are harder, darker and with a tighter grain.
Sapwood is the part on the outside of the trunk below the bark. It is the younger part of the tree and is usually lighter in colour than the rest of the wood.
Heartwood sits in the centre of the tree and is the older part of the trunk. It is usually darker and with a tighter grain.
There may also be cracks, flecks and rays in the wood. All these features together are commonly known as Character. The amount of visible character in the floor is selected by the process of Grading.
Grading is a staged process that starts at selecting the tree trunks, followed by the visual selecting of the cut raw material and finally, after kiln-drying and production of the flooring, the boards are separated according to their grades.
Although many people think that grading is a reflection of quality, it is actually a visible
selection of the amount of allowed character in the boards. The different grades are determined after production and therefore the wood and the production processes are of the same quality.
A Prime grade is not a better quality material than a Rustic grade but contains less characteristic features. Because there is less material with few or no character in a tree, you will often find the cleaner grades to be more expensive than the more characterful grades.
Grading is not an exact science and some variation is allowed. Different manufacturing mills may use slightly differentgrading criteria.
