An application of a forward reaching algorithm of dynamic programming is presented for cross‐cutting trees. Sensitivity analysis was applied for evaluating the effects of various log length and dimension constraints on the produced yield and the relationships between the timber volumes obtained and the dendrometric properties of the data were analysed. The data used consisted of 3283 Scots pine (Pinus sylvestrisL.) stems collected from 52 forest stands located in seven regions in Finland. The timber grades used were branchless logs, logs with living branches, logs with dead branches, pulpwood and waste. It was shown that the volumes of different grades vary considerably when different dimensional criteria are applied and that log length constraints seem to affect the yield more than the limit for the minimum top diameter. By reducing the minimum log length from 37 dm to 22 dm the volume of the branchless log grade was tripled in some stands. The volume gain obtained by loosening the dimension constraints was generally largest in stands of poor quality. The average height of the lower part of the dead crown was found to be the best indicator for the amount of the branchless timber obtained in a stand. In general, the timber volumes obtained varied a lot between the stands of a region as well as within a stand. Especially between‐tree variation within a stand makes the estimation of the timber volume unreliable without some measurement data.