Hi Housewright,
I would hazard a guess that your terminology quoted from Ellis relates more to the historic English import of timber from the Baltic and more especially from the ports of Riga, Memel and Danzig.
In his Master's dissertation at The Weald and Downland [Bournemouth University] the late Tony Taylor made an excellent study of this trade and for example the word "deal" more rightly describes a Scots Pine (pinus sylvestris) tree that has been hewn square and then cut into 3 equal slabs. The timbers were derived from a hewn 9 x 9 baulk which was then cut into 3 slabs that are say just under 3 x 9. These timbers were imported into various ports on the east side of England, especially to Essex and Kent where one of those ports in Kent today is called Deal. The reason for the 9 - 10" limits is because that is about the physical limit capable of being produced from Baltic pine trees which are slow grown and will take about 200 years to reach this marketable size. Very good quality timbers
The words that you have quoted above from Ellis do not therefore readily translate into terms used to describe Oak timbers though some generic terms are common.
Regards
Ken Hume
