Choosing Between Rough Sawn and Surfaced Lumber

If you’ve spent any time browsing the stacks at Barrington Hardwoods, you know that not all boards look the same. Some are smooth, square, and ready for a coat of finish, while others look fuzzy, gray, and maybe a little crooked.

In the industry, this is the divide between Rough Sawn and Surfaced (S2S or S4S) lumber. Neither is "better" than the other, but depending on your tool kit and your goals, one is definitely better for you.

What’s the Difference?

Rough Sawn Lumber

This is wood in its most raw form after being cut from the log, kiln-dried, and skip-planed. The surfaces are coarse, and the thickness is usually a full "quarter" measurement (e.g., a 4/4 board is actually 15/16" thick).

Surfaced Lumber (S2S and S4S)

• S2S (Surfaced 2 Sides): The board has been run through a planer. The faces are smooth, but the edges are still rough.

• S4S (Surfaced 4 Sides): This is "project-ready." Both faces are planed, and both edges are ripped straight and square.

The Hobbyist’s Edge: The Case for Surfaced Wood

If your shop is a single-car garage or your tool kit is focused on assembly rather than milling, surfaced lumber is your best friend.

• Time Savings: Not everyone wants to spend two hours "milling" before they can start "building." Surfaced lumber allows you to jump straight to the fun part: joinery and assembly.

• Less Mess: Milling rough lumber creates a staggering amount of sawdust and wood chips. Using S2S or S4S keeps your workspace cleaner and saves your lungs (and your shop vac) a lot of stress.

• Visual Accuracy: It is much easier to see the grain pattern, color, and potential defects in a board that has already been surfaced. You know exactly what that Walnut will look like under a finish before you work with it.

The Professional’s Choice: Why Pros Go "Rough"

For woodworkers with a full arsenal of machinery—specifically a jointer and a thickness planer—rough sawn lumber is almost always the preferred choice.

• Maximum Thickness Control: When you buy rough, you decide exactly how much material to take off. If you need a beefy 7/8" tabletop, you can get it from 4/4 rough stock. If you buy pre-surfaced wood, it will already have been planed and sanded down to 3/4".

• Perfectly Flat Boards: Wood moves as it dries. Even a board surfaced at the mill can "cup" or "bow" by the time it gets to your shop. By starting with rough stock, you can use your jointer to create a perfectly flat reference face, ensuring your final project is square and stable.

• Lower Material Cost: Because the mill doesn't have to spend the labor or machine time surfacing the wood, rough lumber is typically cheaper per board foot (usually about $3/bf less here at Barrington Hardwoods).

Which Should You Choose?

If you have a jointer, planer, and a table saw, go with Rough lumber.

If you possess limited tools, and are on a tight deadline, S4S lumber is the way to go.

The Bottom Line

At Barrington Hardwoods, we stock primarily S4S lumber, and have recently introduced our Rough 4/4 Woodworker's Craft Packs because we know every woodworker’s journey is different. If you love the process of "finding" the furniture inside a rough slab, grab the rough stuff. But if you’ve only got a Saturday afternoon to build a shelf, our surfaced boards will get you across the finish line faster.