Quartersawn, Riftsawn and Flatsawn

Have you heard the terms quartersawn, riftsawn and flatsawn and wondered what on earth they mean? Our friends at Zena Forest Projects offer a wonderful and detailed explanation of the differences on their blog. A portion:

The above illustration shows how boards are cut out of a quarter of a log.  4 of the boards are labeled “quartersawn”.  The growth rings on these boards are oriented at an angle of between 60-90 degrees to the wide face.  This is the most accepted definition within the industry. The 3 smallest boards are labeled riftsawn, and we will get to those in a minute.  For those who want to explore this further, here is a cool animated video about the quartersawing process.

https://www.zenaforest.com/blog1/2014/2/18/quartersawn-riftsawn-and-flatsawn

Categories: Blog