Flat Sawn Versus Quarter Sawn/Edge Grain/Vertical GrainEnd Section Showing CutsFirst let me acknowledge and thank the USDA Forest Products Laboratory for their work and public education materials regarding wood. All of this information is available for free download as the "wood handbook" from their website www.fpl.fs.fed.us/index.php. Many people hear the term "flat cut" or "quarter sawn" in reference to wood, but what does that really refer to? The ancient way to cut lumber (still used in parts of Africa and for much European lumber) is to slice the log from top to bottom, called "Through and through". This leaves the natural edges on the boards and yields a complete variety of lumber from a tree. Americans are much more efficient and practical than that, though. To maximize the yield from a log, we will first cut off the round edges and square up the log. Then we will slice around the outside to get the widest boards possible with the least waste,avoiding the center of the tree. This gives us "flat cut" lumber and shows the typical "cathedraling" of the rings on the face of the board.The diagram above shows the distortion that characterizes each cut of wood, with flat cut at the top, rift cut at 10 o'clock and quarter sawn at 9 o'clock. As the moisture leaves the cut wood, this is what each board wants to do. Notice that the quarter sawn board is more stable than all the other cuts. It is called "quarter " sawn because often the log will be sliced to quarters before the final cutting begins.Hardwoods have noticeable tangential rays that give the wood greater strength than softwoods. Some hardwoods have rays that are very small, like maple. Some have rays that make a rock star appearance when quarter sawn, like oaks and leopardwood. If a board is cut "rift" the rays will not appear strongly.With quarter sawn wood being more stable, and in some cases more interesting, than flat cut lumber, the question arises, why not cut ALL lumber that way? Simple answer: Quartersawing wastes about half of the log, so most quarter sawn lumber is DOUBLE the price of flat cut lumber. This pushes designers to find creative ways to get the look they want, at a price that the client can afford. The stability of quarter sawn lumber allows it to be cut thinner than other cuts and still be functional. Veneer wastes none of the tree, so it is an excellent way to get the desired effect. Some designers do not want either the swirls of flat cut or the flakes of quarter sawn, so they will specify rift cut for an even, smoothly linear look.Florida Sawmill 1920Salvaged Longleaf Pine, Flat Cut (Left) and Vertical GrainClose Up Of Red Oak (top) Walnut (center) and Maple (bottom) showing raysLeopardwood Showing Flakes or RaysFlat Cut ZebrawoodQuarter Sawn Zebrawood VeneerWhite Oak Handrail, Quarter Sawn, Ammonia Fumed To Accent RaysBudgets 100 Years Ago, Quarter Sawn White Oak With Longleaf Pine CoreThin Quarter Sawn White Oak FlooringQuarter Sawn White Oak Floor With Ammonia Fuming To Accent RaysPosted by jr on 18th September, 2012 | Comments (62) | Trackbacks | PermalinkTags: wood terminology
