# Quartersawing on bandmill?



## cantcutter (Oct 31, 2007)

I think WM has what they call "modified quartersawing" instructions with there mills, but I have been unable to obtain a copy. anybody know the tricks of dedicated quartersawing on a bandmill? I could just go out and experiment, but I would rather have some ideas before I start wrecking good sawlogs


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## gene1605 (Nov 1, 2007)

*quartersawing*

Cant the simple way is to square the cant , then saw exactly thru the middle and turn the 2 pcs 1/4 turn then cut boards.

Grampa


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## carvinmark (Nov 1, 2007)

+1


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## cantcutter (Nov 1, 2007)

I thing that would leave you with a mix of quarter and riftsawn.... I know you can saw into quarters and on after every pass turn the log and cut from the opisit face.


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## cantcutter (Nov 1, 2007)

I think that would leave you with a mix of quarter and riftsawn.... I know you can saw into quarters and on after every pass turn the log and cut from the opisit face.


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## woodshop (Nov 1, 2007)

gene1605 said:


> Cant the simple way is to square the cant , then saw exactly thru the middle and turn the 2 pcs 1/4 turn then cut boards.
> 
> Grampa



Yes that would get you a LOT of quartersawn and riftsawn... but if you have the time and want to go the trouble, and understand you will waste some of your log, better quartersawing would require the following. Literally quarter the log, then slice a board off of a face, turn it 90 degrees and slice a board off of the THAT face, turn 90 again and slice etc etc etc. Back and forth till you have whittled that quarter down to nothing. If you do that, every board will be fairly quartersawn. However, you will have lots of different width boards. For honest true quartersawing (this is where the waste comes in) you would need to quarter the log, and then slice boards as above but slice on a plane from the outside circumference to the center of the log every time. Again, you will end up with lots of different sized boards, but they will all be quartersawn. Lot of trouble, lot of waste, but if that is what you are after, go for it. Most of us looking for quartersawn boards do what gene 1605 said in his post or something similar... get it into cants and slice down, so most of it is at least partially quartersawn. The larger the log, the easier that is to accomplish.


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## MJR (Nov 1, 2007)

For quarter sawn lumber on my band mill this is what I found:

1)	Logs under 20” live saw and then edge. It saves me some of the log and addresses the sap wood. This is slow….
2)	Logs over 20” I do like Wood shop says and quarter the log. The last two boards will usually be rift.
3)	Most of the time I cut to grade. This way you can look at the cant and decide what to do.

There is no way to get around the log handling on the mill if you are quarter sawing. I recently witnessed heated discussion on rift mixed in with quarter that opened my eyes. Good luck.


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## johncinco (Nov 2, 2007)

see if I can attach a pic. Theres really no "easy" way to do it. Your turning and holding a log one way or another. The second one I think is the easiest, and ut still is considerd "quarter" at less than xx degrees of the rings.


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## woodshop (Nov 2, 2007)

Thanks for those pics of quartersawing... explains things much better. In the pic below, the quarter labeled Radial quarter sawing is true quartersawing, which obviously wastes the most of your log and would be a REAL pain in the butt to do, but hey, it you want every board pure quartersawn, thats the ticket. 

I usually end up doing either what they call Triple quartersawing or Alternate quartersawing in the pic. Both of them involve turning the quarter back and forth, time consuming, but a lot easier than Radial quartersawing. If you are sawing on a set of horses, easier than the fourth way, what they are calling Common quartersawing in the pic. 

Keep in mind also that some species really don't look all that appealing quartersawn. Unless you are looking for more stability and less shrinkage, which quartersawn lumber gives, only certain species like oak, maple and sycamore really give you that beautiful distinctive ray fleck figure quartersawing can produce.


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## poleframer (Nov 2, 2007)

My situation has more to do with the size of the logs I come up with, most I just slab in the mill, some need trimmed to fit. I mentioned in another thread that I'm thinking of changing my carridge to 30" from 24".
On a 42" piece I had, I cut (freehanded) a 1/3 off, and halved the ramaining 2/3. Might need more than a 32" bar at some point!, but made me think about "thirding" a log with a setup like a haddon lumbermaker, slice to center,roll 1/3 and again. then stand on edge in the mill and slab like "common quartersawing" at the left of the diagram. 
I know it sounds odd, but for me a big part of milling is dealing with chunks of wood that I'm not professionally set up to handle (tho my little tractor helps).
Whaddya Think?


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## johncinco (Nov 6, 2007)

You can weld up, or even make out of wood a jig to hold those pieces once they are quartered at the angle you want to cut at. Then you just run the saw like your flat sawing, bam bam bam, you got lots of Q sawn wood. If you want to spin the log as you make cuts, your going to have a lot to put through the planer and its a lot of work. 

I use the 2nd method a lot. Set up the log, make 1 pass to cut a flat spot. Drop to the 1st 3rd through the log and make a pass. Set that cant aside. drop to the last 3rd and make a pass. Set that cant aside, which is the middle of the log. Drop down and cut the last part off to make the other flat side. Set that aside. Bring back cant #2 and cut out the center with 2 cuts. Now set all 4 cants back onto the mill, and cut all 4, quartersawing all, to the same thickness. A lot less moving pieces around and rolling a log round and round. Even with a tractor, that a lot of work setting up and moving wood around.


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## curdy (Nov 7, 2007)

These may also help some.


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## redprospector (Nov 7, 2007)

Good stuff guy's!
I just wish I had something around here that was worth quartersawing.

Andy


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## timhar (Nov 7, 2007)

curdy said:


> These may also help some,
> Attached Images qsawmethod1.pdf (359.8 KB, 33 views)
> qsawmethod2.pdf (319.1 KB, 9 views)
> qsawmethod3.pdf (498.7 KB, 9 views)


 
IMO, you should at least give Scott some acknowledgement for his work rather than just hi-jacking it.
http://www.scottbanbury.com/sawingmethods.html


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## curdy (Nov 8, 2007)

timhar said:


> IMO, you should at least give Scott some acknowledgement for his work rather than just hi-jacking it.
> http://www.scottbanbury.com/sawingmethods.html



Uh, you mean like his company name that's at the bottom of each page? Geez, IMO you should think a little before making such statements.


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## Husky137 (Nov 8, 2007)

Some people can't scroll to the bottom of the page.


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