# What does "flitch" mean to you?



## Poindexter (May 30, 2007)

I have found two meaning already, just looking for some consensus.

It seems like here a "flitch" is a big hunk of log already slabbed on four sides, almost the same as a cant.

To boat builders a "flitch" is a honking great chunk of timber - with no pith from the center of the tree in it.

What I am getting around to sideways and backwards is asking if I can use a CSM to make flitch cut "marine timbers" so I can sell the same chunk of wood for three times the dough.

Thanks,
Scott


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## Sawyer Rob (May 30, 2007)

A flitch means to me, (or any other sawyer i've talked to) any board taken off a "log" that has bark on the "edge" or edges as in this pict...







Once the log has all the slabs off it, it becomes a "cant"..

Rob


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## dingo (May 30, 2007)

Agree with Sawyer Rob. I think the people that talk boats are referring to the backbone or possibly the mast that may or may not have all the bark off, but still is a square or round usable piece of timber opcorn:


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## Outback (May 30, 2007)

I'm with them guys :yoyo:


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## Ted J (May 30, 2007)

dingo said:


> Agree with Sawyer Rob. I think the people that talk boats are referring to the backbone or possibly the mast that may or may not have all the bark off, but still is a square or round usable piece of timber opcorn:



my understanding of "flitch" is a log that has been flatsawn to whatever thickness you want, and you basically put it back together to form the log again. If I were to buy a flitch of wood I would expect the full log of sawn boards, all in the order they were cut from the log restacked.
Ted
If you go to the link you'll understand why I think that way. After looking into it there seems to be multiple meanings.


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## Sprig (May 30, 2007)

Poindexter said:


> I have found two meaning already, just looking for some consensus.
> 
> It seems like here a "flitch" is a big hunk of log already slabbed on four sides, almost the same as a cant.
> 
> ...


A side of bacon. really.  (in Cannuckle-land Collins def)
Want more go Google  > http://www.thefreedictionary.com/flitch

and so forth and so forth.....:rockn: :rockn: 



Serge


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## Sprig (May 30, 2007)

Sawyer Rob said:


> A flitch means to me, (or any other sawyer i've talked to) any board taken off a "log" that has bark on the "edge" or edges as in this pict...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


In a big mill a 'cant' is all the outside pieces before they go to an edger or the dimensional saws. Usually they are oddball cut-offs but long and thick enough to get lumber out of.


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## Matildasmate (May 31, 2007)

*Flitch*



Poindexter said:


> I have found two meaning already, just looking for some consensus.
> 
> It seems like here a "flitch" is a big hunk of log already slabbed on four sides, almost the same as a cant.
> 
> ...


Hi Scott Manfred Here Mate! A mate of mine Bought , what one of the local saw mills called Flitches , they were basicaly just logs with top and bottom taken off , so ending up with a flat log with two round sides. Im sure theres many more answers.


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## infomet (May 31, 2007)

I never heard anything for flitch except for a board with bark on both sides.
Some artsy types buy flitches to get the bark and interesting shapes of the edges to use in their creations, often beautiful.

I also only hear cant as the log after sawing has started, thus the need for the cant hook to turn it on the mill bed. Of course we also use cant hooks and peavys to roll logs on the ground.


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## Wood Hick (May 31, 2007)

To any Pennsylvania mountain man, a flitch is a board or a cant that has not been edged. ( Bark on both sides of the width )


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## aquan8tor (May 31, 2007)

Wood Hick said:


> To any Pennsylvania mountain man, a flitch is a board or a cant that has not been edged. ( Bark on both sides of the width )



I have to agree. Every lumberyard or mill I've been to calls a flitch the same thing.....an unedged board. I sometimes call them slabs if I cut 12/4, but that confuses my woodworking friends....


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## BlueRider (Jun 1, 2007)

Comming at this topic for a wood working point of view and living on the west coast,a flitch is any number of seqential boards. This also applies to veneer. I have seen flitchs at some lumber yards and they may or may not have any bark or waney edges, what makes them a flitch is their matching grain. this meaning of the word seems to be fairly common around here in the hardwood lumber yards.


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## Husky137 (Jun 1, 2007)

Wasn't that a bad Chevy Chase movie?:deadhorse:


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