Quarter Sawed Oak

[Glen Paveglio]

I'm going to start my first project using quarter sawed white oak. I will mostly start with 5/4, but also have access to 8/4 rough stock. My questioned is, when resawing the 8/4 to end up with 3/8 to 3/4" finished stock, do the flecks or rays that show on the surface of the rough stock run through most of the 8/4 or are the rays very shallow and may not show as I resaw the 8/4 into thinner stock?

Thanks

[Neil Brooks]

Good question.

I'm quoting Stu's Woodworks, here, because I think his answer is very well stated:


Next I like to try and assess the boards ray fleck pattern characteristics. Normally when examining rough cut lumber you can see the ray fleck pattern by examining the boards face. If you can’t see it, it doesn’t necessarily mean the board is void of ray fleck. The ray fleck could also be light in color, or the board may have a light amount of ray fleck. In this case there are two things you can do to better assess the ray fleck. First, you can take a couple shavings off the board’s face with a block plane (photo 5) and see what is revealed. Or if the dealer doesn’t allow this, go back and examine the rays on the end of the board. These run perpendicular to the growth rings–the more rays there are, the more ray fleck pattern there will be present on the face. Also the thicker these rays the larger the ray fleck pattern will be on the face.

Photo 6 shows the end grain rays, perpendicular to the growth rings, for the ray fleck pattern shown in photo 5.

If you’re interested in maintaining a consistent ray fleck pattern throughout a piece of furniture, your safest bet is to buy board from the same tree, and if supply and price allow, buy book-matched from the same log.

The article can be found at:

www[dot]stuswoodworks[dot]com/gusguild/2009/04/buying-quarter-sawn-white-oak/

[Scott T Smith]

I'm going to start my first project using quarter sawed white oak. I will mostly start with 5/4, but also have access to 8/4 rough stock. My questioned is, when resawing the 8/4 to end up with 3/8 to 3/4" finished stock, do the flecks or rays that show on the surface of the rough stock run through most of the 8/4 or are the rays very shallow and may not show as I resaw the 8/4 into thinner stock?

Thanks

Glen, my primary business is milling, drying and selling quartersawn oak.

In answer to your question, the rays that you see on one face of the board do not "extend" all the way though the board. However, as you mill the board down, when you sand/plane/resaw through one set of rays, others are usually revealed.

If you have good ray flect on both faces of the board, odds are that you will have good flect revealed within.

Stu's comments about studying the visible rays on the end of the board is good advice too.

[Glen Paveglio]

Thanks Neil and Scott for the information. Exactly the advice I was looking for. Scott, wish I was closer to a good supply of quarter sawed white oak. It is harder to come by in the Pacific Northwest. They do mill Oregon white oak, but I have not yet been able to find a good local source.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Scott knows his stuff, and I certainly agree.

Seems I have a certain "pucker factor" when I go to machine surfaces with beautiful grain. Will it disappear when I joint it flat? The faces that aren't really stunning - what will appear there? I have some stuff that is bookmatched - big "hold your breath" event on those bad boys.

But, as it turns out, things are nearly always fine: if you start with good stuff, you end up with good stuff. I view it as part of the adventure.

I confess I have never really resawn 8/4 to thinner stock: The 8/4 $premium steers me to 4/4 - and I haven't had any need for thinner than that.

[alex grams]

I went through the same thing on a project I did. I actually found that my local lumber supplier had most of his better QSWO in 8/4 instead of 4/4, so I purchased a lot of 8/4 and resawed to 4/4 pieces for use.

My rule of thumb on the fleck pattern when resawing is to check the end grain of the piece and see how truly QS the wood is. The two slabs labeled here as QS will give you a good ray fleck throughout, especially when you resaw them, but a lot of mills/yards will sell the adjacent pieces as quarter sawn because you get flecking on the inside face, but on the outside face you are only rift sawn, with minimal fleck patterns. If you have an 8/4 piece that is QS on one side by the grain becomes less perpendicular on the other face, you can expect a mix of the two densities of flecking when you split the wood open.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6e/Flatsawn.svg/634px-Flatsawn.svg.png

This isn't to say that a lot of yards are trying to mislead when they sell the borderline riftsawn as quartersawn, as trees are not symmetric when they mill them. One end of a board may be QS and the other end, due to grain direction changes, may be rift or even plain sawn. If you plan on resawing, get the most absolute perpendicular grain quartersawn boards you can find and you will be fine when you resaw them.

[Brett Bobo]

Alex,
Who is your local supplier for QSWO? I've found that Mason's Mill has a large supply and lower prices but you have to sort through the stacks.

[alex grams]

Brett,that was through Clark's Hardwoods. They are a little steeper in price, but I found that they have the best stock around in terms of quality and quantity. They have a lot larger selection with a lot of good quality, straight, clear long boards, whereas Houston Hardwoods always seem to have a lot of wood with warping/cupping/bowing.

I typically shop Houston Hardwoods as they seem to have the best prices, but their selection of QSWO left a LOT to be desired. They mixed their QSWO with their Rift Sawn white oak and sold it all as the same. They had 0 8/4 QSWO I saw.

I have been to Mason's once to look around, but all of their wood was bundled up, not really conducive to digging through to find a good selection.

[lowell holmes]

The last time I bought QSWO at Clarkes, the rift sawn and quarter sawn were the same price. Rift sawn might make better table legs anyway.

I wondered about Mason's Mill. I guess I will have check them out. I sort through the stuff anyway. I did buy some nice curly maple there. I had to sort throught the bundle.

[Brett Bobo]

Lowell,
Mason's Mill has been my supplier for the last several projects and I've been very happy with the material (one project out of cherry), not to mention the lower costs. They don't have near the exotic selection of Clark's but for commonly used domestics and exotics, they carry a vast supply at better prices. I believe they are the largest supplier in Texas in regards to quantity. Their facility consists of several warehouses where the woods are sectioned off based on species, thickness, and length and stacked from floor to ceiling. Basically, you have them pull a bundle for you and then you sort through to select your material. It's really not much different that any other supplier, e.g. Houston Hardwoods, where you have to sort through bins. Honestly, I think it's easier at Mason's Mill since the bundles are grouped to what you need and you don't have to pull out each board to determine the length, for example.

Another huge benefit for me is they have free delivery, regardless of order size. So, for anything where handpicking isn't essential, e.g. poplar, an order is just a phone call away. As long as you order before 2 p.m., the order can generally be delivered the next day. Even if you handpick your material, they'll bundle it up and still provide free delivery. They even load it into your shop for you--very convenient.

As a sidenote, the carry prefinished (C-2, imported) birch plywood and the 3/4" sheets run $36.50 each. I'm using it on a closet built-in right now and I've been happy with the product. Given the price and being imported, I was skeptical but it's relatively stable and there aren't many voids. I've found that other prefinished plywood, although domestic, has been at least twice their price.

No affiliation, just a happy customer. Hope that helps.

[alex grams]

Thanks for the input Bret. I think the other challenge for me is that they are not open on weekends. M-F 7:30-4:30, which really allows me no opportunity to go by and select what I need. If they were open for a half day on Saturday, or late 1-2 nights a week, their prices would probably get a lot of my business, but not much I can do when they aren't open.

[Kent A Bathurst]

FWIW - here in Atlanta, I go to Peach State, and they are fine with me bringing my flashlight and my LA block - after we talked about it. I convinced them I knew what I was doing, and that I would not do anything to their wood with my plane that I would not do to my own. I first plane to check the end grain - that's my first "cut" - if it is not essentially dead-on qtrswn grain, I move to the next piece in the stack. Then, a few thin passes with the plane tell me what the face looks like.

Their units are pretty much one length, but RW. The commercial-oriented guys tend to go for width, and I go for grain, so everyone wins. The 6" - 7" pieces are there for me to sort thru.

And - Alex: "a little steeper in price, but...they have the best stock around in terms of quality". Ya gets what ya pays for.

Now - if Scott Smith would just install a Star Trek transporter and reduce the mileage between Raleigh and ATL............beam me up, Scotty!!!

[Brett Bobo]

Alex,
I completely agree on the hours as it would be nice to have the Saturday window. I've been able to manage some extended lunch hours to make several trips. Honestly, even if you're unable to get there during their business hours, I've found that they do quite well with specific phone orders. The more information you can give them, the more likely they'll get your order right. For species with noticeable differences in sapwood versus heartwood, e.g. cherry and walnut, I believe that have a slight upcharge for handpicking all-heartwood (or as best possible) material. I'm not sure what you're looking for but I'd definitely give them a shot at some point. Maybe you can give them a try on a small project or on material where hand selection isn't critical. If you do call, ask to speak with Sam or Alex and I've found both to be very helpful and knowledgeable.

[Scott T Smith]

Now - if Scott Smith would just install a Star Trek transporter and reduce the mileage between Raleigh and ATL............beam me up, Scotty!!!


(grin) Kent, a combination of e-mailed wood photo's and LTL trucking ain't a bad option though...