APP

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app to do the job came first from Franca, while they were working on a research project involving more than 2,000 pieces of lumber. Han worked mostly on researching how to market such an app and found coders to build it.

“It’s a non-destructive tool,” Franca said. “It’s portable, because it’s on your phone, cheap because it costs $4.99, and it’s able to estimate the stiffness of each piece of 2x4 or 2x6, 2x8, 2x10 Southern pine or Douglas fir lumber.

Franca said the app had first become available to the public in November 2018.

The app is used by first setting a piece of lumber on two sawhorses. To check using sound waves, the sample is hit gently with a hammer while the phone is held close to the end of the sample. To test with vibration, the phone is set in the middle of the sample, and the sample is vibrated vertically. Results are given on a color scale, with red representing low stiffness, yellow representing medium and green representing high. A gray reading is a suggestion to test a second time.

“We are trying to get this certified by the American Lumber Standard Committee,” Franca said. “We believe that we do have a bright future, not just because of the tool, but for a better understanding of the mechanical properties of lumber.”

The app is currently available in the Apple App Store, and will soon be available on Google Play.

“In terms of an app, this is kind of the first one of these,” Seale said. “We have some scientific equipment using vibration and sound waves. The vibration device is made by a company on the West Coast and costs $10,000, and the sound wave equipment costs about $8,500, and this app gives you very, very similar results and it costs $4.99.”