Thread: Quarter sawn vs rift sawn

Here at 53N, those 'quarter-sawn" diagrams are incorrect. Dreadfully wasteful.
1/4 of a log is cut such that the growth rings are semicircular.
The "modern" side of your very first diageam is what is done here.

With our softwoods, spruce, pine & fir, the cut maximizes the yield from each log and mitigates the shrinkage/movement parameters of the radial and tangential planes. Some of one, some of the other.
What you have to do, with the wood you have, where you live, may not match what happens here.

Annual allowable cuts here are defined in the millions of cubic meters.

Not so much these days but I can recall when there was a truck, loaded with good logs, rolling through the city every 30 seconds. In BC alone, we have 18,000,000 ha standing dead pine which is not worth the powersaw gas to cut it down.

Originally Posted by Lee roy

So I'm incorrect in saying rift sawn runs perpendicular to the growth rings (mostly) and quarter sawn is a compromise between rift and flat sawn??

Yes - quartersawn is where the rings are at circa 90* to the face. Rift sawn is 30* to 60*. Plain/flat sawn by implication is 0* to 29* (at least that is my understanding).

But is a flat sawn 2 by 4 a quarter sawn 4 by 2?
Handy to think about when you are going to rip I down into small pieces anyway.

Yes - quartersawn is where the rings are at circa 90* to the face. Rift sawn is 30* to 60*. Plain/flat sawn by implication is 0* to 29* (at least that is my understanding).

Ok that's quite helpful. So next question being what's the advantage of rift sawn then?

Originally Posted by titchtheclown

But is a flat sawn 2 by 4 a quarter sawn 4 by 2? Handy to think about when you are going to rip I down into small pieces anyway.

QTRSAWN001.jpg
The illustration above shows that one (the middle board cut from the plank) 4 x 2 flat sawn becomes a 2 x 4 qtr sawn. I guess you pick your boards carefully, for example if you are selecting 4 x 2 boards to make a laminated bench top 4" thick

Originally Posted by Lee roy

Ok that's quite helpful. So next question being what's the advantage of rift sawn then?

You do not want to waste the wood? Might be some interesting patterns? Stability is somewhere between flat and quarter.

I understand that Tassie Oak and Vic Ash are almost always quartersawn due to general instability problems. I guess the waste becomes dowels (or wood chips).

Cheers
Peter

Originally Posted by Heavansabove

QTRSAWN001.jpg

I understand that Tassie Oak and Vic Ash are almost always quartersawn due to general instability problems. I guess the waste becomes dowels (or wood chips).

Cheers
Peter

Some in Tasmania would suggest that the forests here are cut for the woodchips and the waste is what gets sold as timber

Philip.