Cosmetic selection of width of wood for a drawer face glue up

[Phillip Mitchell]

My ego is not too large to ask..... What's rift-sawn?

When the end grain is running between 30-60 degrees off parallel of the face of the board. Typically produces “straight grain” as opposed to flat sawn cathedrals and is easier to get a visually seamless glue line when edge gluing for width.

You will typically get sections of rift / straight grain closer to the outer edges of wider boards. Looking at the growth rings of the end grain of a log will tell you why that is.

[Jim Becker]

Yea, rift sawn can be a wonderful thing because it tends to be stable, doesn't have wild grain and generally is free of the additional marking that true quarter sawn brings so it doesn't compete with figured material, is really excellent for square/rectangular legs because all faces have exactly the same grain, etc. I like to use it for rails and stiles when a highly figured panel will sit between them, for example.

[John C Cox]

I generally go for one of two strategies:

A. Get the grain and color match as close as possible to make it look virtually identical. Then, judicious use of stain takes care of the rest.

B. Make the addition super high contrast so it stands out, and says, "I meant to do this." To pull this off, you have to follow it all the way through, though. It looks like a mistake if you do 1-drawer front different from the rest. It looks like design when you do them all the same way. So for example, rip the 8" board down the middle and joint in a 2" or 3" wide strip of lighter/darker wood right down the middle.

Things in between look like mistakes.

[Michael Drew]

When the end grain is running between 30-60 degrees off parallel of the face of the board. Typically produces “straight grain” as opposed to flat sawn cathedrals and is easier to get a visually seamless glue line when edge gluing for width.

You will typically get sections of rift / straight grain closer to the outer edges of wider boards. Looking at the growth rings of the end grain of a log will tell you why that is.

Yea, rift sawn can be a wonderful thing because it tends to be stable, doesn't have wild grain and generally is free of the additional marking that true quarter sawn brings so it doesn't compete with figured material, is really excellent for square/rectangular legs because all faces have exactly the same grain, etc. I like to use it for rails and stiles when a highly figured panel will sit between them, for example.

Thanks guys. Appreciate the info. Now if I can just get my short term memory to remember to talk to my long term memory.....

[Derek Cohen]

It's all about how important the visual result will be to you.

…. use the solid stock for the physical utility and then veneer the faces for quality.

It's the little things that take a very nice project to an outstanding one.

I totally agree with Jim’s advice. I would have stated the same if he had not.

It depends on the importance of the drawers. For the workshop, then do anything, but as soon as it becomes part of furniture for the home, then I would not settle for second best.

Regards from Perth

Derek