wood type?

[Brian Knop]

What's the difference between quarter sawed white oak and quarter sawed rift white oak?

Brian

[Eric Apple - Central IN]

Hey a question I can answer!!

If you look at the end of the board and observe the way the growth rings run, you will see this:

///////// - rift sawn
||||||| - quarter sawn
====== - flat sawn

Quarter sawn is the most stable in width with changes in humidty. The widths are narrower because the log must be quartered to cut the wood this way, and it cost more because of the extra work in sawing.

Runs of flat sawn wood contain a large mix of rift sawn, and wide boards usally have edges that are quarter sawn. This portion of the board is good for riles/styes of raised panel doors. IE a wide board may have qtr, rift, and flat grain: |||\\\\===////||||

Also, quarter sawn wood greatly enhances the visibility of medullary rays that people whom favor craftsman style furniture often prefer. While other people think this makes the wood look plain.

By the way, mixed grain as I have show above makes a board more likely to cup. As the shrinkage/expansion occurs mostly in a direction parallel to the grown rings. So when the growth rings change direction within a board, so does the expansion and contraction, which leads to cupping.

[Jason Roehl]

Eric pretty much covered it except for one small point. According to the Frank Miller Lumber website, qtr-sawing yields MORE wood from a log, meaning less waste, but is more expensive because it requires more skill, technique and time to produce.