Lumber in Drying Racks
Most lumber sold in lumberyards is cut from a tree using a method called plain sawing. This is where a blade makes a flat cut from the face of a tree, with the following cut parallel to the first cut, and so on. This method produces lumber that is prone to cupping, twisting, flaking and bowing. Quarter-sawing lumber is a method that produces lumber where the growth rings are perpendicular to the cut. This method makes for more stable lumber, but it is more labor-intensive and creates more waste than plain sawing.
How is a Tree Quarter-Sawn?
To be quarter-sawn, a tree is first cut into fourths down the long axis (much like cutting a pie into quarters). Each quarter is then positioned with the point (originally from the center of the tree trunk) facing upwards, and a vertically-oriented blade cuts strips of the desired thickness square to the growth rings of the tree. The first and last cuts are typically too narrow to be used as lumber, but the cuts in-between produce usable, quarter-sawn lumber.
What Are the Advantages of Quarter-Sawn Lumber?
On quarter-sawn lumber, the grain is perpendicular to the width of the board (square to the face). As it dries, quarter-sawn lumber tends to hold its original shape much better than plain-sawn boards. Quarter-sawn stock is particularly useful when building fine furniture projects. In some hardwood species such as oak, quarter-sawing also provides a highly sought-after grain pattern on the face of the board that cannot be produced from plain sawing the tree.
Tags: plain sawing, growth rings, produces lumber, quarter-sawn lumber, This method, tree first