Craigs Clout n Repairs; Tip "O" this Time,  Ok .... Your R.O.I. Guy is dispelling the word is officially out. We have been schooled that we are even able to count those years by its rings on the whole trunk. Some of these tree's well over our age's and some only pure miniscule seedlings. But the lumber yards and the mills take over long before you'll be seeing stacks of these tradable commodities. Regardless if it's a DF stud in a wall or a piece of 2x6 redwood decking you're going to still get the longest and cleanest results from what is NOT so commonly known as F.O.H.C. or in a full spelling Free of Heart Center. Nature reproduces in many ways and when that seedling turns to fruition the first year of life is also just a mere thin dowel. As life matures if we are all so fornunate the tree forms into another slightly bigger dowel wrapped around and encompassing the 1st one. And so on and so on etc., ten-fold or aka another year older. Once that timber has made it to Gnahal or a HomeDepot then the masses can them away. As a Concierge Caretaker for the homes of my precious clientel, I look for constant Improvements. It all starts at the stacks ! There will be a few things one wood be behooved to know before carting them to check out, and that is after finally finding which size, shape (length) and species you're going to use, simply look at the end (either one) of it and stick an eyeball down the edge. End to end you'll see how sraight it is. But before doing that you'll want to choose F.O.H.C. because the farthest from the center of that tree will be the less likely of warping it is going to wind up drying too and require replacement a short time later. Not really that much more work to go ahead and sort thru now to save MEGA amounts of laborious effort later. You'll be glad you took the extra time doing this selecting !!! Let's build something together !! Have a prosperous Day , Craig ! 310 310697-2829