Quarter sawn walnut for coffee table?

[Jason Stoller]

I am planning to make a walnut coffee table. I have been reading it is better to use quarter sawn for legs. I called a couple mills to see if they had quarter sawn walnut and they indicated that is a pretty uncommon request.

I am planning to take 5/4 ~2-2.5" wide stock and laminate two pieces together to make the legs (and some other parts) for final dimensions of 2x2.

Should I search out quarter sawn walnut? or is plain sawn walnut fine for this purpose?

thanks for the advice!

[Martin Wasner]

If you're laminating, grain orientation doesn't matter much. The legs will end up the sum of their parts.

I make things oversized in all dimensions and straighten them out after being glued up. Even if the stock is perfectly straight, I manage to glue things up with a slight bend, then joint them straight again. Once I've got a piece that is square and dimensioned how I like, I cut to length. Typically I'll take another .030" off of each long face in the sander after cutting to length.

[roger wiegand]

You can always look through the pile for a piece that happens to be quarter sawn. I don't think it's necessary nor particularly meaningful in small square stock in a wood without prominent ray flecks like oak.

Laminating 5/4 stock will be considerably less expensive than buying 10/4 stock to get a finished 2" dimension. It just depends on the look you want.

[Brian Holcombe]

Buy flat sawn and cut the rift sections to be used as legs. Align the grain to the leg and buy lumber sawn aligned to the grain. You'll save yourself considerable money over buying quarter sawn which is not proper leg stock.

Quarter sawn, when sawn into square section leg blanks is going to show flat grain on two faces. Rift will show vertical grain lines on all four faces.

You will not likely find quarter sawn walnut unless you find a mill as opposed to a lumberyard.

[Prashun Patel]

Any square or turned leg you make will be quartersawn on 2 faces.

Quartersawn walnut is sometimes sold as "VG" or vertical grain walnut. I know a mill in PA if you are interested.

I agree with Brian - RIFT sawn is preferable to me for solid legs. This has the end grain grain at 45 degrees to each of the 4 faces. This results in a clean look on all 4 faces. On some woods like cherry and maple, some even think it's a better look than the quartersawn face. But this is strictly an aesthetic preference. Structurally, any square piece is going to perform similarly regardless of the orientation of the grain.

If you wish to laminate the legs, I would take care to make your rips from the sides of wider boards. A flatsawn piece will have straighter grain on its face toward the edges. In fact, if you are laminating, I would say it is PREFERABLE to get flatsawn starting material. The edges of the flatsawn boards will be vg, and have a high chance of aligning well without a seam appearing.

[Bill Brush]

For pieces that small I can't believe there's any significant advantage in quarter-sawn. Unless I'm missing a point, the main advantage of quartersawn stock is that it moves less. Movement is a percentage of the overall size. With legs 2 1/2" across even flat sawn wood is going to move a trivial amount.

[Jim Becker]

Rather than laminate stock for your legs...which may very well result in a visible joint, buy some stock that is thicker than your required finished dimension and try to get nice rift grain from the edges of the thick boards for the legs. Once you part that material off, you can re-saw the remainder to use elsewhere in the project. Yes, the thicker stock costs a little more, but it will give you four "good sides" for your legs if you carefully select for the rift at the edge (grain angles 45º from the face) and the rest will not be wasted. I've done this kind of thing a number of times. It's the same technique that was used years ago in a Fine Woodworking article/project where a sideboard/table was constructed from a single thick board.

[Neil Gaskin]

I've ordered quartersawn Walnut from liberty hardwoods. I'm in Kansas City and I believe they have a shop in Des Moines.

[Ron Citerone]

Rather than laminate stock for your legs...which may very well result in a visible joint, buy some stock that is thicker than your required finished dimension and try to get nice rift grain from the edges of the thick boards for the legs. Once you part that material off, you can re-saw the remainder to use elsewhere in the project. Yes, the thicker stock costs a little more, but it will give you four "good sides" for your legs if you carefully select for the rift at the edge (grain angles 45º from the face) and the rest will not be wasted. I've done this kind of thing a number of times. It's the same technique that was used years ago in a Fine Woodworking article/project where a sideboard/table was constructed from a single thick board.

What JB said!!! X2