Wood Term

[Bernie Weishapl]

Being a novice in woodworking, I ran across a term I had never heard or if I did I didn't pay much attention. What do they mean when they say lumber is quarter sawn?

I just got some 1" oak and 1" walnut from a friend who picked it up in Missouri. It looks like it will be around 5 3/4" to 6" when all is said and done. Really nice wood and about 99% clear. Now if I can get some time to use some of the new toys, oops I mean new tools.

Bernie

[Nick Mitchell]

http://www.wisegeek.com/images/quartersawn.jpg




Quartersawn boards are created by first cutting a log into quarters and then creating a series of parallel cuts perpendicular to the tree's rings. The yield is not as substantial as in plainsawing but much greater than in riftsawing. The grain in quartersawn wood is relatively consistent, and therefore the end product is stable and often preferred by woodworkers and furniture-makers. Quartersawn wood may include rays and wavy grain patterns that some people prefer to alternative sawing techniques.



info courtesy wisegeek.com

hth

[Corey Hallagan]

Bernie, "Quarter Saw" is achieved when a log is first quartered. Then the quarter section has two flat face surfaces. !_) if that looks like a quarter of a log! Then alternately, a slice is taken off of each face until no more slices can be taken. Quarter sawn has the growth rings perpendicular to the face of the boards.This is versus plain sawn where the log is sawn or halved in which has the growth rings run parralel to the face of the board.

Hope this makes sense.

[Bernie Weishapl]

It does make sense Corey. Thank you Nick. It now makes sense. I appreciate you both for your answers. I learned something new today. Again thanks to both.


Bernie :)

[Ian Abraham]

One of the forum members has a good write up on quarter sawing and some ways of achieving it on his web page

http://www.scottbanbury.com/sawingmethods.html

Ian

[Bernie Weishapl]

Thanks Ian. I appreciate the info.


Bernie