C & better "Clear" Grade Southern Pine

Grade C is the highest grade of pine lumber and is commonly used for fine woodworking and interior trim. Clear select pine has long been a favorite for walls, trip and ceilings. One reason is that without sapwood (knots) the boards are very easy to paint. SYP Direct sells C & better with a variety of profiles including, tongue and groove, V-Groove and Nickel Gap. We offer S4S, smooth all four sides, for those who want old time ship-lap, and it also works great for for matching stairs.

Clear and Better, C & better grades Southern Pine, more commony known as Clear, is hand sorted. Oddly enough, that is exactly what the term “select” means when you hear it with clear grade but it adds no value. Along that same line, prime grade Southern Pine does not exist, it is marketing.

Please remember that Select Pine really does not mean anything

One issue customers face when buying floors online, assessing quality and grades. Homeowners buying floors online see a grade or term, such as “Select” Knotty Pine and assume it means ‘the best’. No, not all. Select, by definition, indicates ‘hand selected’ during the sorting process. Only problem, it is all ‘hand sorted’ unless you are keeping defects in the grade. Machines do not sort boards for things such as Heart Content, holes, cracks all of which matter, to say the least. Best advice when buying floors online, read the specifications online and ask questions.

Clear Select, you might as well throw in Clear Prime Select! Visit Pinterest Page

When appearance is of paramount concern, this grade, as the name implies, is virtually knot-free and contains no wane. It has a warm, rich, distinctive wood grain and is denser in nature.

Lumber grades confusion shows up in flooring sold in box stores

We think it is only appropriate to attempt to describe these grades for your reference to help you better understand what you currently stock and what is additionally available to you and your customers. Please keep in mind, that with the advent of prime grades, the differences between the grades of lumber have become even more defined and distinct.  (Culpepper Lumber 2023).

Clear pine has long been a favorite for walls, trip and ceilings. One reason is that without sapwood (knots) the boards are very easy to paint. SYP Direct sells C & better with a variety of profiles including, tongue and groove, V-Groove and Nickel Gap. We offer S4S, smooth all four sides, for those who want old time shiplap, and it also works great for trim and stair risers.

Of course it is select, which simply means by hand-selected

Why is SYP Direct hand selected or graded Southern Yellow Pine better than other “specialist”? Every knot is solid, unlike some “southern specialty” companies grades of “select” which admits in the fine print that the grade contains cracks holes, also known as defects.  Furthermore, we don’t use the word select because that is a given when dealing directly with a mill. Remember select means hand selected and guess what? There are no machines that do the job, so every grade is ‘selected’ by hand.