Quarter sawing

[Philmypower]

I'm fairly new to milling. Been reading a lot, and watching a lot of you tube vids and keep coming across quarter sawing.

Could someone please explain this to me and why it's done.

[se7enthdevil]

quarter sawn timber is cut from the tree for stability purposes and usually it looks nicer too.

 

the growth rings of a quarter sawn plank run perpendicular to the two broad faces of the plank and in oak will show up those beautiful medular rays.

 

the image below explains how you can cut it.

[Stubby]

If its of any help some of the Hard Rock Maple necks on my guitars are quarter sawn . The stability helps with tuning etc .....

[Philmypower]

Thanks I understand, looks like it will take longer but you'd make the most out of the timber

[Philmypower]

Can this be achieved easy enough with an alaskan and mini mill

[Ukulian]

Steve's diagram above is generally accepted as 'quarter sawing' today, but in fact only the first two or three boards, perhaps 4, are true quarter sawn planks. And this method is achievable with an Alaskan and a mini mill.

Have a look here including the images tab for a fuller explanation

HIH

[Copford sawmill sussex]

This is how we qtr saw our boards the top and bottom lumps are then re sawn on a smaller mill, notice the medullary ray which is only visible on oak if I'm not mistaken

[devon TWiG]

If you cut any log "through and through" the planks from the widest part of the log are by default quarter sawn and will be the most stable ( least warp prone ) also on species such as the oak above and especially london plane will display there medullary rays and have an increased value . This is only really viable with a decent sized log . Radial cutting can also be done to make the most of a fine log but rarely done i think .

[Rob D]

Quarter sawing is the way to go - almost all the wood I saw now is quartered using Alaskan and mini mill then re sawn on the bandsaw.

 

 

You end up with planks that are more stable, easier to move, easier to work with and less degrade as they dry.

 

 

Did a vid here - but I wouldn't recommend this method as too many painful cuts with the mini mill..

 

 

 

 

 

Better and easier is to:

 

 

• Take top slab off as usual to get first flat edge.
  
• Set the mill 14" - mill this cut.
  
• Set the mill to 12.5" (to give a 2.25" plank). Mill this.
  
• Set to 10" mill, 7.5" mill, 5" mill, 2.5" mill
  
• Now saw down the middle with the mini mill
  

 

 

Not true quarter sawn but the easiest way to do it and the largest boards are pretty much quarter sawn.

 

Then similar method with the bottom half.

 

 

- if you mini mill first then do the Alaskan cuts it's a real pain wedging the heavy x2 quarters off the saw when you exit the cut.

 

 

If you mill from 2.5" down until 14" ie top down sawdust in the cut can interfere with accuracy. Hence working from bottom up.

 

 

 

 

Will try and do a vid of this but it works well.

 

 

But the best way would be to quarter the log and then re saw with a separate set up ie something like this would be perfect (am looking to import these but usual issues of CE marking etc)

 

 

 

 

[Big Beech]

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This is how we qtr saw our boards the top and bottom lumps are then re sawn on a smaller mill, notice the medullary ray which is only visible on oak if I'm not mistaken

 

Looks like you could do with a bigger mill