Mark,

On Fri, Jul 31, 2015 at 12:57 PM, Mark Pfeifer  wrote:
>> SNIP: Try finding some of those with or without
>> knots.
>
> It’s getting worse, too. Twice in the last couple weeks I’ve been at the blue
big box lumber department, and had to pull apart two entire stacks of the “top
choice” studs trying to find even half a dozen that were knot-free.

I've given up on knot free.  What I usually do is go to the end of the
stack and choose pieces based on the rings.  I'm looking for as close
to quarter sawn as I can find, with as many rings as I can find.  It's
amazing how much heavier a quartersawn 2x4 is compared with one with
only a few rings and the pith.  Then I buy 10-20% more than I need,
knowing that some will pretzel before I get a chance to use them.

But yeah, I still have to sort through a lot of junky wood in order to
find the good sticks.

Cheers,

Chris
-- 
Christopher Swingley
Fairbanks, Alaska
http://swingleydev.com/
cswingle@s...