Quatersawn, Riftsawn, and Plainsawn Wood

In the previous blog I spoke about quatersawn wood, and have in a couple other blogs, so I thought now might be a good time to focus on what quarter sawn wood is and how it differs from other cuts of wood. There are three basic ways lumber can be cut into board – plainsawn, riftsawn, and quatersawn. I am going to use Wikipedia to help me explain the differences to you and the picture above from WiseGeek where you can read more about the differences. .

Quatersawn
Quarter sawing is a process of sawing logs into boards, a method that produces quartersawn and riftsawn boards. Quartersawn boards have two advantages: its stability against warping with changes in moisture and although shrinkage stills occurs, it is less troublesome.

The decorative effect, although this depends on the timber species. Quartersawn oak shows a prominent ray fleck. Quartersawn sapele is likely to produce a ribbon figure.
Rather than feeding a log into a mill for rift sawn and merely shifting the blade position a little after each board, the whole log must first be quartered (hence the name), then each quarter is sawn separately. The best quarter sawing pattern takes a single slice off each face of the quarter, rotating it between cuts. This is obviously a lengthy process, so a common compromise is to rift saw throughout each quarter, but at 45° to the faces.
Quartersawn boards can also be produced by other methods.

Plainsawing
Plainsawing is the most common and least expensive method of sawing. Plainsawn lumber is obtained by making the first saw cut down the length of the log and the remaining cuts parallel to the first. This method is the most economical because it provides the widest boards and results in the least amount of waste. Plainsawn lumber tends to contain more variation within and among boards, is less dimensionally stable tending to expand and contract more across the width of the boards than quartersawn lumber.

Riftsawn
Riftsawn is somewhere between plainsawn and quartersawn. The growth rings are roughly at a 30 to 45 degree angle to the face of the board. Riftsawn is more stable than plainsawn, but it does not exhibit the distinctive rays found in some quartersawn wood. Rift-sawing produces narrow boards with accentuated vertical or “straight” grain patterns and are often favored for fine furniture and other applications where matching grain is important. However due to the waste factor in the sawing procedure, riftsawn is very expensive and limited quantities and species.


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