Is Flat Sawn White Oak Suitable for Furniture

[Tom Bender]

Hi John
Just a word of caution. Lots of woodworkers acquire too much wood, some way way too much. I try to bring home just what is needed for the next project, but opportunities come knocking and there are always offcuts. It might be a good time to establish good habits before you drown in wood.

[lowell holmes]

He was hand tool oriented. I saw him make a card holder for a desk in about an hour one day using only hand tools.

[Jim Foster]

To the original poster. If you find yourself knee deep in white oak and get bored with the plain sawn look after a while, I think getting creative with finishes can make a big difference. Small pieces can be ebonized, and a multitude of other finishing techniques can be researched and tried.

[roger wiegand]

Of course it is suitable, as the millions of pieces of furniture made from it will testify.

The question is, for hand-made custom furniture, do you want to spend a couple hundred hours on building a very good piece with plain wood when for an extra few bucks you can make an extraordinary piece with spectacular wood. For everyday or more utilitarian furniture it's a great choice.

[Tony Wilkins]

Of course it is suitable, as the millions of pieces of furniture made from it will testify.

The question is, for hand-made custom furniture, do you want to spend a couple hundred hours on building a very good piece with plain wood when for an extra few bucks you can make an extraordinary piece with spectacular wood. For everyday or more utilitarian furniture it's a great choice.

Are you talking about quatersawn or another species.

[roger wiegand]

Well is this case I was thinking very high quality quartersawn, but I go through the same thought process in choosing quilted cherry or birdseye and curly maple instead of plain.

[Tony Wilkins]

For everybody: Out of curiosity, what percentage of the wood you buy do you specify quatersawn? How much does that vary with wood type?

[Andrew Seemann]

The only quarter sawn wood I've seen regularly available in quantity locally is Red & White Oak, and sometimes vertical grain Fir. Sometimes vertical grain Sitka will be available in a few pieces at Woodcraft; maybe some of the specialty wholesalers would order it if you agreed to buy enough. For other species you may run into the piece that happened to be the cut on the quarter, but it isn't separated out.

I always see people saying, "You should use quarter sawn wood for that" and wonder where they think you would get it.