What Is Quarter Sawn Wood

Quarter sawn lumber is wood sawn at the sawmill using a quarter-sawing process.

What is quarter sawn wood. Although there are differing opinions on the term fully quarter sawn lumber is generally defined as growth rings that are 80 to 90 degrees to the face of the board. With that lumber the exposed grain is important and plays a part in its use within a project. It yields highly usable very strong boards with a lot less waste than plain-sawn or rift-sawn lumber.

There are different methods or quarter sawing. If the growth rings run at a slightly lower angle its called rift-sawn. What this means is that they are less likely to develop gaps or to suffer from cupping once laid.

There is widespread confusion between the terms rift sawn and quarter sawn with the terms defined both with opposite meanings and as synonyms. Quarter-sawn wood is more stable than plain-sawn. Knowing that quarter-sawn wood can out price plain-sawn by a factor of two or more here are the compelling reasons to buy it.

Additionally medullary rays appear on certain areas of the lumber face. Not only is it less prone to cupping it also expands and contracts less. When cutting this lumber at the sawmill each log is sawed at a radial angle into four quarters hence the name.

A board with growth rings running roughly parallelusually in archesrelative to the face of the board is called a plain-sawn or flat-sawn board. The simple grain pattern fits the philosophy of the Arts and Crafts movement which strove to simplify the. The two diagrams on the right above are two methods using radial cuts.

Quarter sawn boards have greater stability of form and size with less cupping shrinkage across the width shake and splitting and othe. Quarter sawn lumber refers to the angle at which the trees growth rings intersect the face of the sawn board. Anon145010 January 21 2011.