# Quartersawing



## Kevin (Feb 8, 2014)

A member asked me about quartersawing so I thought I would start a thread for all us sawyers to share their methods. The method I will show was one I only used one time for a luthier and sows the result of what he did with the actual wood I milled for him. I originally posted this on another forum in April of 2008 as part of a thread where a bunch of us sawyers were showing various qs methods we have used. I have used a half dozen methods to quartersaw but this one was challenging. 

_I'll post these pictures here, of my more-wasteful, much-less-efficient method so it can be part of the scrutiny also, and for another reason. The wood you see here being quartersawn is the wood I sent to GOI (the artist known as getoverit, for any come-laters) from which he made his masterpiece of a guitar, also shown below. OWW, I'm making this post to try and tie this whole thing together - quartersawming and geetar makin. Goes hand in hand I think_. 



 


 


 


 


 


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And the resulting masterpiece created by GOI, freeing the flame boxelder from it's long years of silence . . . ._


 


 


 


 


I was still a fairly new sawyer when I did that - less than 3 years experience. I would not use that method again because I have since learned how to get perfect qs lumber using methods with less waste, even though all qs methods are inherently wasteful. I have taken pictures and videos of me sawing out qs lumber using oither methods and I will try to locate them. 


Please try not to post images or quartersaw diagrams off the internet unless necessary to ask a question. This thread is for sawyers to post images of their actual sawing methods and for other sawyers AND non-sawyers to participate with questions and comments.

Reactions: Like 4 | Great Post 1 | Informative 2


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## Fret440 (Feb 8, 2014)

I was wondering what it might look like once I get around to using my FBE from Treecycle.

Jacob

Reactions: Agree 1


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## rob3232 (Feb 8, 2014)

If it were me? I would saw the truly quartered pieces then cut the leftovers for bowls/hollow forms or call blanks??

P.S. And send me some

Reactions: Like 2


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## SDB777 (Feb 8, 2014)

Having a 'manual mill', I only get two pieces that are really QS while milling.....just way to time consuming to get it.


Scott (awesome photos though) B


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## Kevin (Feb 8, 2014)

Scott, quartersawing a log has nothing to do with what type of mill you have. I started with a manual mill and I cannot get any more qs lumber out of a log with my hydraulic mill than I could with my manual mill, I can only do it much faster. I guess that's what you are saying though.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Treecycle Hardwoods (Feb 9, 2014)

I have tried the method Kevin is showing in his pix and I have had a difficult time keeping the log steady. 

What I do now almost every time (if I am qsawing) is I take a few boards off each face of the log then I quarter the log with the pith being at the very center. Think of aiming at the pith of a log with your favorite scope, where the cross hairs are is where the cuts are made. Sometimes I need to use the CSM to do this because the throat of my band mill is not enough. Once I have it quartered I can put each of the cants on the band mill and begin cutting boards off the side where the growth rings come to the surface at a 90* angle. After each cut we need to flip the cant 90* to catch the board on the other face while the grain orientation is correct. We just keep flipping back and forth until we are down to a 4"-5" can't then just saw the rest without any flipping. A good note to point out here is that when qsawing we plan on lots of shrinking in the thickness. When wood dries the growth rings shrink (this is what causes cupping in flat sawn material) qsawn boards have growth rings running in the opposite direction so they shrink in that direction. When sawing oak we know a 5/4 fresh board will shrink to a little larger that 4/4 when dried.

Time usage for this method sucks, but it is the best for safety and good reliable figure. Given the method I use I search for logs where the growth rings are very even and are very circular. The more oval the growth rings the less yield I will get of a true quarter sawn board. NOTE: a true qsawn board has growth rings perpendicular to the surface of the board. Some mills will sell material with growth rings that are 60-70-80* to the surface of the board. 

I never really captured this process with pix or video. Hopefully my description of the process is easily deciphered.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## SENC (Feb 9, 2014)

The back and sides of that guitar are spectacular!

Thanks for sharing, Kevin.

Reactions: Like 2 | Agree 1


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## Mike1950 (Feb 9, 2014)

SENC said:


> The back and sides of that guitar are spectacular!
> 
> Thanks for sharing, Kevin.




I agree cool guitar. Back and sides make the front look kinda plain.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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