re: Douglas Fir, 1956 vs 2017

As a contractor of 30 years I have seen a big change in the grading system in lumber, what use to be #3 or #4 is now graded as #1& #2 . Dealing with demolition on some homes built as far back as the 1800s there is a very wide difference from what homes were built with then versus now. I don’t find Doug fir being mostly pithy but I live in the northwest where it’s logged so the material they send to NY might be of an even lesser grade than here. It’s kind of amusing to me that in UK doug fir is considered something they use for joinery.About the only items, we use Fir for are perhaps replacement of old VG flooring, but I understand that some wood(timber) is less available in the UK.