It's not a matter of the "mills" shorting you. Back when these standards were first put into place (and before they were revised to today's standard), many sawmills which used circular blades left lumber so rough and in such poor condition that it was sometimes all but impossible to use for home construction, UNLESS covering with lath and plaster. Yet when paneling and drywall started gaining such popularity, those very rough boards simply were not suitable. That's when the first version of standards were created - so that homeowners and builders could buy lumber that they could reliably build with.
Again, at first, much of the lumber ended up being minus-1/4" per side, but that was varying quite much with some boards finishing at minus-1/8" per dimension and up to minus-3/8" per dimension. This made for a wavy wall, so was still not acceptable.
Now we have today's standard, which is minus-1/2" per side, but is now pretty much universal. In other words, straight walls, smooth boards, etc. The main problem we're running across in today's market is the quality of log that is being used for milling into lumber. Some boards will have maybe one knot in an entire 2x4x8'. Other 2x4's will have so many knots that unless you're using a pneumatic nailer, you're likely to hit knots and bend nails, or have screws that crack the knot/wood and weaken the board. So I would imagine there will be future revisions made to the construction lumber standards.
The ONLY way that any mills are out to get you is from the ones that take efficiency to the absolute extreme! They know from experience just how big to cut a board to allow for shrinkage and still have enough to mill to dimension - often with a few still-rough spots on the board. They know just how close to mill to the bark, even though some boards get through that I would definitely consider reject! And modern band mills with good, sharp blades can cut surfaces so smoothly that they almost don't need any additional surfacing at all. However, wood shrinks at different rates even within every tree, so in order to make the whole lot the same dimensionally, they all must still be surfaced. It's just businesses maximizing their profits by maximizing efficiency, yet still with a few companies actually pushing the limits. Lumber retailers that I deal with (NOT nationwide chains) are getting fed up with the amount of lumber they're having to eat because nobody wants to buy it. Which is why so many (if not all) now offer "garage kits" and "pre-built sheds". Home builders cut lots of corners anyway, but most will try to avoid using the really crap lumber "in" the construction and will instead relegate those boards to sacrificial uses. ...At least the builders I have experience with - which has also been a very long time, so take that with a grain of salt. :wink:
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