Quarter sawn grain direction question

[Steve Paxman]

Forgive my ignorance, I'm sorta new to thinking about grain direction.

Is there such a thing as a quarter sawn spindle? Like, say I have a project calling for a piece of wood 30" long, and 1x1" square. If I cut that from a board of quarter sawn sapele, then the grain direction looking at the end will be vertical. But of course, it is square, so if I just turn it 90 degrees, have I just turned my quarter sawn into flat sawn? And likewise, is cutting the piece from a regular flat sawn board going to yield identical results?

Just curious because, of course, flat sawn wood is cheaper! Thanks in advance!

[Jerry Miner]

"flat sawn" and "quarter sawn" only refer to boards that have a face and an edge. If you cut a 1x1 (or 2x2 or 4x4 or whatever) out of your stock, it is no longer FS or QS. So, yes, a 1x1 from FS stock is essentially the same as a 1x1 from QS stock. Even if the grain runs at a 45 deg. angle from the face, in a spindle it will all be equal.

For spindles, look for grain that runs straight along the length of the board (or make the cut follow the grain)

[Dick Mahany]

For quarter sawn white oak, it is very common to make square legs by either joining 4 pieces such that the quarter sawn flecks show onn all four sides. Another alternative is to veneer the two sides such that all four sides show the fleck patterns. I have done both and the extra work makes a significant difference in final appearance. If you intend to turn a spindle, that's a whole different story.

[Andrew Hughes]

How about a rift sawn piece for your spindle.It Doesn't have the look of quarter sawn but a better chance of staying straight. Heres a image I found .Hope this helps.

[Prashun Patel]

I agree with Andrew. Look for rift sawn stock for legs and spindles if that look is important to you. You will get the same profile on all four faces.

[Cody Colston]

I agree with Andrew. Look for rift sawn stock for legs and spindles if that look is important to you. You will get the same profile on all four faces.

That is my preference, too.

[Bill Space]

I agree with Andrew. Look for rift sawn stock for legs and spindles if that look is important to you. You will get the same profile on all four faces.

Really? At first this made complete sense to me...but then I thought about it. :) For square spindles I am sure your statement is absolutely correct. And I guess that the OP did specifically refer to square pieces, now that I think about it. But if it were a turned spindle this would not be the case, would it?

Isn't a rift sawn square piece conceptually just a flat sawn piece turned 45 degrees? If the spindle is kept square then all four surfaces do indeed look the same, but once it is turned on a lathe, wouldn't the appearance be identical to a flat sawn piece that was of the same dimensions and turned on the lathe?

Thanks for bringing this up. Got the gears turning between my ears for a moment or two!

[Cody Colston]

Isn't a rift sawn square piece conceptually just a flat sawn piece turned 45 degrees?

Nope. With a rift-sawn square, the grain lines run diagonally any way it is turned and emerge the same on all four faces. With a flat-sawn or quarter-sawn square, two faces exhibit QS grain and the other two tangential grain.

[Prashun Patel]

You know I think you may be right on that!

Once you turn it, I think you are right. If the spindles were SQUARE, that would not be an issue, though. On legs I've noticed this to be the case. But once you turn it, what used to be the corners starts to flatten out, where it wouldn't on a square spindle.

[Jerry Miner]

Yes, I was assuming a turned spindle, but for a square spindle, then I'm with the rift-sawn group (or one of the various methods that creates a QS face on all four faces)

[Andrew Hughes]

Nice catch Jerry,You are correct the end result will be the same.One thing to consider is a 1 inch square 30 long.Im thinking it still will help starting from a rift blank.Im a novice wood turner so maybe there are tricks to turning long skinny pieces.That make no differance what the blank looks like.
Thanks anyways for shining the light.

[Andrew Gibson]

Hay, That's a picture from my Federal Oval Table Blog! :)
http://blog.infinitytools.com/2015/02/17/federal-style-oval-table-part-3-tapered-legs/

[Andrew Hughes]

Great minds think alike. Good day to Ya sir.:)