To quarter saw or not?

[BigOakAdot]

I have a 30" plus red oak tree down in my backyard. My question is when do you decide to quarter-saw wood? Do people quarter-saw all species of wood?

I personally like the natural edge look, but figure I have so much oak down I should look into quarter sawn oak.

I know it's more stable to quarter saw but I'm curious as to what is the deciding factor for you guys. Size or use of finished product? I plan on building tables and stuff with my wood. Thanks!

BOA

 

[Dave Boyt]

Quarter sawn red oak is pretty stuff. You'll get some, no matter how you cut the wood. I assume you're using a chain saw mill, so it would be fairly easy for you to quarter the log, then mill each quarter. It will be especially useful for table tops, since it is less prone to cupping... but how many table tops do you need? I think quarter sawn wood of any species is more stable and very attractive, but oak & sycamore have ray flecks that are particularly desirable.

How you dry the wood is very important. Be sure to have it in an area out of the sun, that the stack is stickered for good air flow, and covered. Then wait for a couple of years. If the wood is properly dried, stability will be less of an issue. Wide surfaces, such as table tops benefit from the quarter sawing, but runners, legs, trestles, etc generally don't.

My criteria for quarter sawing is simple. I generally cut the most efficient way possible, and set the quarter sawn pieces aside for special use. If I am going after quarter sawn lumber for a specific use, I quarter the log and use a cutting pattern like this. Notice that it gives natural edges.

 

[BigOakAdot]

Quarter sawn red oak is pretty stuff. You'll get some, no matter how you cut the wood. I assume you're using a chain saw mill, so it would be fairly easy for you to quarter the log, then mill each quarter. It will be especially useful for table tops, since it is less prone to cupping... but how many table tops do you need? I think quarter sawn wood of any species is more stable and very attractive, but oak & sycamore have ray flecks that are particularly desirable.

How you dry the wood is very important. Be sure to have it in an area out of the sun, that the stack is stickered for good air flow, and covered. Then wait for a couple of years. If the wood is properly dried, stability will be less of an issue. Wide surfaces, such as table tops benefit from the quarter sawing, but runners, legs, trestles, etc generally don't.

My criteria for quarter sawing is simple. I generally cut the most efficient way possible, and set the quarter sawn pieces aside for special use. If I am going after quarter sawn lumber for a specific use, I quarter the log and use a cutting pattern like this. Notice that it gives natural edges.

Thanks for the insight Dave. So in the above picture, I alternate cuts on each split end? As in make a cut on the left side of that pic, then a cut on bottom and keep alternating?

If I'm looking to have natural edge tops, does this way of milling limit me on how wide I can make my table? As in not needing to join a bunch of pieces with glue and dowels? Thanks again.

BOA

 

[Dave Boyt]

How you achieve the pattern depends on your mill. On most mills, either chain saw or band, this pattern requires you to turn the log 90 degrees after each cut so that the cut is always on top and horizontal. After you've tried it, you'll understand why it is not commonly done-- it takes a lot of turning and clamping! You can take a wide slab or two out of the center before starting the quarter sawing pattern. Width of slabs from the center is limited only by the width of the log and the capabilities of the mill. It is impossible to have all quartersawn boards and wide slabs with natural edges on both sides. On the other hand, you can get some real nice bookmatched pieces if you're willing to edge glue the slabs with one natural edge and one straight edge.

 

[BigOakAdot]

How you achieve the pattern depends on your mill. On most mills, either chain saw or band, this pattern requires you to turn the log 90 degrees after each cut so that the cut is always on top and horizontal. After you've tried it, you'll understand why it is not commonly done-- it takes a lot of turning and clamping! You can take a wide slab or two out of the center before starting the quarter sawing pattern. Width of slabs from the center is limited only by the width of the log and the capabilities of the mill. It is impossible to have all quartersawn boards and wide slabs with natural edges on both sides. On the other hand, you can get some real nice bookmatched pieces if you're willing to edge glue the slabs with one natural edge and one straight edge.

Yeah the thought of moving a massive piece of oak back and fourth seems like a back spasm waiting to happen. I'll plan on cutting the log in half and then milling a couple slabs from top and bottom pieces. I'll then quarter saw it and go from there. Thanks again for the input!!

BOA

 

[Dave Boyt]

You're welcome. Looking forward to pictures.

 

[woodchuck357]

You can usually cut 3 or 4 boards at each turn, depending on the size of the log.

 

[abbott295]

I believe someone has suggested cutting the log in thirds, then stand a third up and take horizontal slices off of that to get a lot of close to quarter sawn boards. A picture was posted, but I am pictorially challenged; sorry about that.

 

[BigOakAdot]

Dave,
thanks again for the help with my chain question. I haven't made it to the red oak quite yet. Would help if I could find my can't hook but doesn't seem to be anywhere.

Well I have 2 ripping chains for my 25" bar that had come with my 441 that I sold and I decided to tackle some of my smaller logs first. It took me some time to get up and running, so only got to one small log. I found this walnut that had been sitting for quite some time. Over ten years if I had to guess. As you can see it has faded a bit and has a decent amount of cracking. Not bad for a log that's been laying on the ground for a very long time. They're only about 5' long and maybe 14" wide but would make a nice coffee table once it gets some poly.

I have one more that's just as old, but whoever cut it down left the trunk standing. It had lil saplings growing off of it when I moved in so I cut it down and painted the bottom. Has a nice lil skirt on it too... Will make for some nice pieces.

This wood seemed to be already extremely dry due to being cut for so long. I'm assuming it would be dry enough in less than a year. What do you guys think? Also, if I we're to make a
Coffee table, when would be the best time to insert some butterfly's? Should I now to prevent further cracking? Thanks for the insight guys this site has been a tremendous help.

 

[Dave Boyt]

Great start on chain saw milling! Now that you've had the thrill of opening up a log, there's no turning back. Looks like nice color and grain in that walnut. It is amazing how long it will last on the ground. There is not a whole lot you can do about the cracking when it is that old. I generally let it do what it wants to, and relieve the stress on its own, then make the decision whether to cut it for smaller pieces, or rip it, joint the edges and glue it back together. Normally, the worst cracking will be along the pith (center of the growth rings). The difference is that green wood can distort a bit to relieve stress, while dried wood is brittle and cracks, instead. Butterfly inserts may help some, but I haven't tried them. Here is an extreme case of stress relief in walnut. It was still usable, cut into smaller pieces.

 

[BigOakAdot]

Thanks Dave! Nothing like opening up a log for the first time. That walnut is nothing compared to some of the pieces I still have to mill yet. I have some cherry as well and decided to do a piece that happened to be the same size as the walnut. Only 4' long and about 13" thick but it's a start. I figured I would start on all my small wood first til I get the hang of it. Here's a pic of it stickered and stacked...
Oh and here's a pic of what those walnut logs looked like when I first moved in...
The one in the back of the pic is the trunk to these two pieces that was still standing and living off of a couple sapling branches.

BOA

 

[woodchuck357]

It's been awhile since I have made tables but back then splitting, jointing, and making a t&g join with bow ties after drying worked pretty well.
Routered blind dovetailed cross ties almost as long as the width on the bottom side also helped.

 

[Dave Boyt]

Truly a "trash to treasure" job. I've seen better logs than those chunked up for firewood. Nice job stacking those slabs, though you might want to support the stack with a post. That's exactly the way I stack and sticker slabs, though I run straps around both ends to make them easy to move with a front end loader. Now the hard part... you need to wait for a couple of years.

 

[BigOakAdot]

Truly a "trash to treasure" job. I've seen better logs than those chunked up for firewood. Nice job stacking those slabs, though you might want to support the stack with a post. That's exactly the way I stack and sticker slabs, though I run straps around both ends to make them easy to move with a front end loader. Now the hard part... you need to wait for a couple of years.

Haha yeah I know but I need some time to work on my woodworking skills anyway. May take a few classes because I'm truly clueless on that front. No reason to strap mine because everything is done by hand unfortunately. Already feeling it in my back from 2 small logs and I'm only 28 lol. Need to come up with a better system to get the logs up in the air more....

 

[woodchuck357]

Notch a couple of short fat logs to hold the saw log and parbuckle the saw log onto them up a ramp made from a couple of small logs or timbers.

 

[BigOakAdot]

Notch a couple of short fat logs to hold the saw log and parbuckle the saw log onto them up a ramp made from a couple of small logs or timbers.

Yeah I already do something similar. Just need to make it even higher in the air I guess. Thanks for the tips. Pics would be appreciated if anyone out there has some set ups they can share.

BOA

 

[BigOakAdot]

More related to the title of the thread, here's some pics of the red oak I have down. It's 31" in diameter and about 27' before the main crotch. And damn straight I must add. It lost another good solid 8' due to the rot from an ant infestation that caused it to come down in the first place.

 

[Grey]

Quarter sawn red oak is real nice. If you can find someone with woodmizer with hydraulics to handle all of the rotating the cant, or if you can get you logs to a mill the will do small jobs like yours it can be done fairly easy, quick with only a modest increase in cost. If this were my log, I would probably get it flitch or cant sawn. This will give you the widest boards with best variety of QS, rift and flat grain patterns and will be cheaper. I normally save 1/4 saw for very specific projects and/or white oak.

 

[Dave Boyt]

WoodMizer isn't the only game in town. I have slabbed up to 30" wide on my Norwood HD36 & milled logs up to 36" diameter. And it is a manual mill.

 

[BigOakAdot]

My alaskan can do up to 36" but I have a 36" bar so I think I can do around 30" logs. Not bad for a chainsaw.