Quarter Sawing - I was wrong

[N80]

I recently milled a couple of 18" diameter 8' long white oak logs on my small, totally manual, sawmill. I quarter sawed the first one. I had never done it before. I did it correctly. It was literally 4 times as much work as plain sawing. Or at least it seemed that way. The boards were gorgeous with lots of figure throughout. When the saw blade reached the end of each board there was no release of tension.

I was just about worn out when I got to the second log and just plain sawed it. It was quick and easy. The boards had nice grain but no figure.

At that point I pretty much swore I'd never quarter saw again. It seemed like too much work and too much waste. I stacked the boards up in the back of my beater farm truck, un-stickered, got busy with other life stuff and forgot about them. The truck and the boards were in a covered shed.

Today, about 6 or 8 weeks later, I pulled all of the boards out of the back of the truck and was amazed by what I found. Most of the plain sawn boards where twisted, cupped and badly checked. The quarter sawn boards were pristine. Granted, if I had properly stickered and stacked them all, the plain sawn boards would probably have turned out better but even without that the quarter sawn boards were straight, true and with minimal checking.

So at this point I am reconsidering quarter sawing whenever I get good quality logs. Any milling on a portable mill, by myself, is hard physical work and quarter sawing is not as frugal, but in this case at least there is much more usable wood among the quarter sawn boards.

Just thought I would share this experience.

 

[yanmars]

I had a wood worker tell me that he only would work with quarter sawn wood for its stability and figure.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I quarter saw from time to time, it is more work, especially if you do it RIGHT.

A lot of diagrams showing Q sawing isn't true Q sawing though, it's mostly "rift" sawing.

SR

 

[geteh]

I recently milled a couple of 18" diameter 8' long white oak logs on my small, totally manual, sawmill. I quarter sawed the first one. I had never done it before. I did it correctly. It was literally 4 times as much work as plain sawing. Or at least it seemed that way. The boards were gorgeous with lots of figure throughout. When the saw blade reached the end of each board there was no release of tension.

I was just about worn out when I got to the second log and just plain sawed it. It was quick and easy. The boards had nice grain but no figure.

At that point I pretty much swore I'd never quarter saw again. It seemed like too much work and too much waste. I stacked the boards up in the back of my beater farm truck, un-stickered, got busy with other life stuff and forgot about them. The truck and the boards were in a covered shed.

Today, about 6 or 8 weeks later, I pulled all of the boards out of the back of the truck and was amazed by what I found. Most of the plain sawn boards where twisted, cupped and badly checked. The quarter sawn boards were pristine. Granted, if I had properly stickered and stacked them all https://fapello.org.uk/gia-duddy-fapello/, the plain sawn boards would probably have turned out better but even without that the quarter sawn boards were straight, true and with minimal checking.

So at this point I am reconsidering quarter sawing whenever I get good quality logs. Any milling on a portable mill, by myself, is hard physical work and quarter sawing is not as frugal, but in this case at least there is much more usable wood among the quarter sawn boards.

Just thought I would share this experience.

While quarter sawing is more labor-intensive and results in more waste, it definitely has its advantages, especially in terms of stability and grain figure. The quarter sawn boards holding up much better than the plain sawn ones, even without proper stacking, shows how beneficial it can be for long-term quality. It's understandable that you’d reconsider it for high-quality logs, even if it requires more effort.

 

[N80]

I quarter saw from time to time, it is more work, especially if you do it RIGHT.

A lot of diagrams showing Q sawing isn't true Q sawing though, it's mostly "rift" sawing.

SR

To be honest, I do not remember exactly how I did it but I followed the instructions I saw on several web sites that seemed reliable. To be sure there seems to be a lot YouTubers, etc that don't know what they're talking about and cutting through the junk is difficult. Just like anything else on the internet.

And there may be some rift sawn boards in the mix of what I am calling quarter sawn but with the majority of them the growth rings on the end of the board are around 90 degrees to the face.

All of these logs I got were a result of hurricane Helene. I have lots of trees down on my place. Quite a few are too big for me, my tractor or my sawmill. Just getting the ones less than 20" in diameter out of the woods is difficult. But this weekend I got five more white oak logs averaging about 16-18" in diameter and 8' long each and will mill them soon but because I don't remember exactly what I did last time I've got to learn it all over again! Maybe if I do it enough I will remember how but I normally do not harvest healthy hardwoods on my place. Anything that gets blown over of topped by ice I try to get out. So its usually feast or famine.

Also, when I type the word 'sawn' my spell checker flags it as incorrect. I looked it up. The past tense of 'saw' in American English is 'sawed' but in British English 'sawn' is correct.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

To be honest, I do not remember exactly how I did it but I followed the instructions I saw on several web sites that seemed reliable. To be sure there seems to be a lot YouTubers, etc that don't know what they're talking about and cutting through the junk is difficult. Just like anything else on the internet.

And there may be some rift sawn boards in the mix of what I am calling quarter sawn but with the majority of them the growth rings on the end of the board are around 90 degrees to the face.

All of these logs I got were a result of hurricane Helene. I have lots of trees down on my place. Quite a few are too big for me, my tractor or my sawmill. Just getting the ones less than 20" in diameter out of the woods is difficult. But this weekend I got five more white oak logs averaging about 16-18" in diameter and 8' long each and will mill them soon but because I don't remember exactly what I did last time I've got to learn it all over again! Maybe if I do it enough I will remember how but I normally do not harvest healthy hardwoods on my place. Anything that gets blown over of topped by ice I try to get out. So its usually feast or famine.

Also, when I type the word 'sawn' my spell checker flags it as incorrect. I looked it up. The past tense of 'saw' in American English is 'sawed' but in British English 'sawn' is correct.

That is because the grammar police have attacked American English. Pleaded in now the past tense of plead. Sawed instead of Sawn, etc.

 

[geteh]

To be honest, I do not remember exactly how I did it but I followed the instructions I saw on several web sites that seemed reliable. To be sure there seems to be a lot YouTubers, etc that don't know what they're talking about and cutting through the junk is difficult. Just like anything else on the internet.

And there may be some rift sawn boards in the mix of what I am calling quarter sawn but with the majority of them the growth rings on the end of the board are around 90 degrees to the face.

All of these logs I got were a result of hurricane Helene. I have lots of trees down on my place. Quite a few are too big for me, my tractor or my sawmill. Just getting the ones less than 20" in diameter out of the woods is difficult. But this weekend I got five more white oak logs averaging about 16-18" in diameter and 8' long each and will mill them soon but because I don't remember exactly what I did last time I've got to learn it all over again! Maybe if I do it enough I will remember how but I normally do not harvest healthy hardwoods on my place for free cam chat room. Anything that gets blown over of topped by ice I try to get out. So its usually feast or famine.

Also, when I type the word 'sawn' my spell checker flags it as incorrect. I looked it up. The past tense of 'saw' in American English is 'sawed' but in British English 'sawn' is correct.

thank you so much for your suggestion