When grading rough hardwood lumber, green, air-dried or kiln-dried, we look at the worst side of the piece of lumber to determine the grade. If we determine that the worst side is indeed No. 1 Common, we now look at the better face.
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If this face grades FAS (with a few other details thrown in), then the piece is graded as FAS 1-Face. So, from the worst face, which often is the face we use for cutting up lumber into parts, both No. 1 Common and FAS 1-Face will potentially have the same quality face and therefore the yield will be the same, especially when cutting for two sides clear (C2F or clear two faces).
Now, it becomes unlikely that a piece of No. 1 Common that just barely makes the grade will have an FAS good face. Further, all FAS 1-Face pieces must be at least 6 inches wide. So, these two facts do mean that we often see a slight increase in yield with FAS 1-Face, but it is not as big an increase as the price increase.
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