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Flooring
Grades, Grain Selections and Color Selections
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Wood Flooring International goes to great lengths to accurately describe the
flooring we offer. First, we describe the wood grade
of our flooring. In North America, the
National Oak Flooring
Manufacturers Association (NOFMA) standardizes grading - See
NOFMA.
Our flooring grades correspond to NOFMA grades as follows - our Clear
and Select grades match NOFMA's while our Natural Grade compares to
NOFMA's #1C and our Rustic to NOFMA's #2C.
Unfortunately, the rest of the
overseas community does not standardize grading so that you have no
assurance of an "apples to apples" comparison. Many sell as Clear Grade
what is in fact a NOFMA #1C grade.
Next, we describe grain selection
of the flooring, which is mixed grained unless it is titled Rift &
Quartered or Flat w/straight grain pulled.
Next, we describe, if any, the
color selection such as selected dark.
Below are detailed descriptions of
those grades along with photos of Brazilian Cherry in the various
grades. |
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Species
Grade Descriptions
click photos to enlarge
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Grade photos below
are shown in Brazilian Cherry. See
Species Photos for
all species offered. |
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Clear
Grade |
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Clear Grade - The highest grade
offering the most uniform look and is highly selected in order to obtain
this uniformity.
Defects: None allowed including knots, splits, checks, worm holes,
excessive mineral streaks or contrasting sapwood.
Color: Color selected to disallow
any pieces that are too dark/light or wildly grained in order to create
a harmonious color/grain selection.
Lengths: In standard nested
distribution packaging of 84" - 88" long, the minimum length average
will be 36" and typically is slightly longer.
Grade photos
are shown in Brazilian Cherry. See
Species Photos for
all species offered. |
Warning - Photo Disclaimer
Cherry, Brazilian
Clear grade |
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Select
Grade |
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Select Grade - The second
highest grade, which differs only from Clear grade in that Select grade
allows more of the full range of color/grain found in a species
and includes the Clear grade that develops in the production run.
Defects: None allowed including knots,
splits, checks, worm holes, excessive mineral streaks or contrasting
sapwood.
Color: Minimally color selected but
does disallow extreme dark/light or wildly grained pieces that contrast
too strongly.
Lengths: In standard distribution
packaging of 84" - 88" long, the length average will be 36".
Grade photos
are shown in Brazilian Cherry. See
Species Photos for
all species offered. |
Warning - Photo Disclaimer
Cherry, Brazilian
select grade |
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Low
Select Grade |
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Low Select Grade - The third
highest grade, which contains all the pieces that are Select Grade in
terms of lack of defects, but that have been selected out from the Clear
and Select grades as having too much color/grain variation. This grade
is available only on an accumulation basis as it develops as a small
percentage of the grading when producing Clear/Select grades of
flooring. Defects:
None allowed including knots, splits, checks, worm holes, excessive
mineral streaks or contrasting sapwood.
Color: Contains all the dark and
light colored pieces as well as wilder grained pieces that have been
selected out from the Clear and Select grades.
Lengths: In standard nested
distribution packaging of 84" - 88" long, the length average will be
approximately 32". See each species for actual average.
Grade photos
are shown in Brazilian Cherry. See
Species Photos for
all species offered. |
Warning - Photo Disclaimer
Cherry, Brazilian
low select grade |
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Natural
Grade |
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Natural Grade - This grade
allows most of a given Species color and grain range along with most of
the natural character that develops in a wood.
Defects: Allows small knots, splits,
checks, worm holes, mineral streaks and contrasting sapwood.
Color: Contains the full range of
Color and Grain to be found in a species.
Lengths: In standard nested
distribution packaging of 84" - 88" long, the length average will
typically be approximately 26" - 28" long. See each species for actual
average. Grade photos
are shown in Brazilian Cherry. See
Species Photos for
all species offered. |
Warning - Photo Disclaimer
Cherry, Brazilian
natural grade |
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Rustic
Grade |
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Rustic Grade - This grade
allows even more of the natural character that develops in a wood than
found in the Natural grade.
Defects: Allows more numerous and larger knots, splits,
checks, worm holes, mineral streaks and contrasting sapwood than found
in the Natural grade.
Color: Contains the full range of
Color and Grain to be found in a species.
Lengths: In standard nested
distribution packaging of 84" - 88" long, the length average will
typically be approximately 22" - 26" long. See each species for actual
average. Grade photos
are shown in Brazilian Cherry. See
Species Photos for
all species offered. |
Warning - Photo Disclaimer
Cherry, Brazilian
rustic grade |
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Aussie Character Grade |
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Aussie Character Grade - |
Warning - Photo Disclaimer
Cypress, Australian
Aussie Character grade |
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Graining Selections
click photos to enlarge
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Graining photos
below are shown in White Oak. See
Species Photos for
all species offered. |
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Mixed
Grain |
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Mixed Grain - is a mixture of
straight graining and flat sawn (with the "flower" figure of the wood)
and is the typical unselected for graining that most wood flooring is
offered in and unless specified otherwise is the default graining
offered. The
selections below are special grain selections and will be so noted when
describing the flooring being offered: |
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Quartered |
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Quartered - is a selection of
graining, whereby the flooring is selected for straight graining only.
Quartered is also typically used in the oaks to denote the ray / fleck
that is visible in some of the straight grained selection. Straight
grain provides for more uniform coloring and a more formal, less busy
look.
Graining photos
are shown in White Oak. See
Species Photos for
all species offered. |
Warning - Photo Disclaimer
Oak, White - SingleStrip
quartered select grade |
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Rift |
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Rift - is a selection of
graining, whereby the flooring is selected for straight graining only.
It is principally used in the oaks to denote the straight grained
material without the ray / fleck that is visible in some of the straight
grained selection.
Graining photos
are shown in White Oak. See
Species Photos for
all species offered. |
Warning - Photo Disclaimer
Oak,
White
rift clear grade |
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Rift and Quartered |
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Rift and Quartered - is
principally used when describing the grain in oaks and is used to
describe a straight grain selection which has pieces both with and
without rays / flecks. |
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Warning - Photo Disclaimer
Oak, White
close-up of the straight / quartered graining
Graining photos
are shown in White Oak. See
Species Photos for
all species offered. |
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Flat Sawn
w/straight grained pulled |
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Flat Sawn w/straight grained pulled
- this is the graining left over after all or most of the Quartered and
Rift straight grain has been pulled to make that selection leaving
mostly the flat sawn graining and a "busier" look. |
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Warning - Photo Disclaimer
Oak, White
close-up of flat sawn graining
Graining photos
are shown in White Oak. See
Species Photos for
all species offered. |
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Color
Selections
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Color Selections - Occasionally
offered, color selections vary species to species but typically are
selected light and selected dark selections. See
Individual Species
for details |
