Don,

Thanks for the reply.

My bigger concern is the borers.

In buying Standing Dead timbers, did I unknowingly accept this risk? Or, do I have the right to expect the infested timbers to be replaced - much the same as I would expect the grocer to replace a piece of fruit that had worms in it?

And secondly, if the supplier is unwilling to provide replacements, should I use these timbers in my frame? I know that certain types of borers will not reinfest my timbers. But, other types will. I don't know how to quantify this risk.


The MC issue was mostly just a misunderstanding, I think.

I was told that the timbers "typically" have a MC in the high-teens to low-20's. No specific MC criteria was set.

From their point of view.... If they are not drying the timbers, they have no control over the MC.

From my point of view.... If you're going to advertise a range of MC, and make a sales pitch around how stable the timbers are because of that MC, you should deliver timbers that fall within that range. The timbers I bought had a MC close to 30%.

The bottom line on the MC is something like this: They shouldn't advertise something they can't consistently deliver, and I shouldn't have expected anything that wasn't explicitly specified in the contract.

Thanks for your time!

Jon