What is this wood?

[Brittney]

We have a large piece of wood in the garage that my parents bought too much of. They want it gone and asked if I could use it for the boys. I want to, but I'm not sure what kind of wood it is as it does not state anywhere on the wood. We got it from Home Depot.

It has a UPC sticker that says:

Universal Forest Products,INC
2x2x8' PREM FURRING STR
UPC CODE

It has a blue base on it and something stamped on the wood itself, but I can't read it.

 

[3CsMommy]

Looks like a 2" by 2" stud. What were they using it for, hanging a door? Building an addition to the house?

The trick I use with milled lumber is to dig a finger nail into it somewhere. If you leave a pretty good sized dent, it's soft wood, which means it's probably pine, which means it's almost definitely kiln dried (to get the sap out, which kills the tocopherols that cause respiratory infections in rodents). Smell the dent to be sure, and if it smells like pine sap, don't use it. If you don't leave much of a mark, its either pressure treated or a hard wood, neither of which I'd use for chins.

 

[Brittney]

OK, I don't have any nails, so I used a credit card and I can make a dent in it, and it doesn't smell like sap, it just smells like, wood.

 

[cintistatern2005]

Looks like pine

 

[Diamond Dreams]

It is a furring strip. They're typically used for making walls thicker (up to code) during remodels. It's obviously some kind of white wood. From my expereince most stores don't know what kind of wood the studs are, often times they're douglas fir though. But maybe they have different lumber in AZ than here.

 

[Brittney]

Would it be safe to use? or should I just leave it?


OK, I looked on their website, and it listed the types of wood they use, but it didn't specify what wood the furring strips are.

Universal offers a wide variety of domestic and imported species. Listed below are a few examples of species that Universal offers:
Southern Yellow Pine (SYP)
Spruce Pine Fir (SPF)
Hem Fir
Brazillian Pine
Western Red Cedar (WRC)
Doug Fir
Ponderosa Pine
Mixed Softwood
Eastern White Pine
Red Pine

 

[AZChins]

Furring strips usually are KD and are perfectly safe to use - they're also really cheap and the wood comes in different sizes.

The only thing that makes me nervous about that one is the green marking on the bottom. Sometimes that indicates chemical treatment on the wood.