Quarter sawing tutorial with pics

[TexasTimbers]

I like most if not all the ways described here in this thread. Some really great methods. I never would have thought so many existed.

For those of you who might not have seen the thread OWW was referring to in his initial post up top, it's in the Crash of 2007 Archives. You have to log in and go to the Sawmill Section. It's the 4th thread down.

I'll post those 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. 











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

[metalspinner]

Tex,
Those red arrows you drew on there point perfectly to the direction your saw should be sawin'.

[TexasTimbers]

Oh man you blew my trade secret!   

[getoverit]

Thanks Tex!  I'm still pretty blown away at how pretty that guitar finished out. It was a real show stopper at the Miami guitar festival.

I still have quite a bit of that wood and you never know what my next creation will look like

[OneWithWood]

Good call, Tex.
One of the things I still strugle with when I try to emulate some of the methods contained in this thread is how to secure the cant while sawing.
It looks like you just balance the cant on the clamp and dogs then saw carefully.  Is that how you do it?  What keeps the cant from migrating off the saw on into the head?
That guitar looks better everytime I see it 

[TexasTimbers]

It looks like you just balance the cant on the clamp and dogs then saw carefully. 

Yes it was branches/twigs/felling wedges but keep in mind I hadn't quartersawn anything using that method before so it was a one-timer. Lots of waste but GOI had stressed, adamantly . . . "It has to be true quartersawn for this!" . . .  so I was not wanting to give him anything except perfect quartersawn wood and the only way I could figure to do it was the way I did.

I didn't have time to build a jig like I referred to in the Crash Archives and knew I wasn't cutting but the one log that way.  It would be fairly easy to make a jig that would allow clamping on the oblique angles you need cut a log that way. But if I study these other methods, maybe I can still get lumber with rings 90° or close enough, to the faces with not as much waste, so my method might be irrelevant. I gotta stew on it before I decide, because with mine you don't get any flat or rift sawn it's all perfect or near perfect quarter. Even the "pies" are still well within the 60°+ requirement to be called quartered.

[Dodgy Loner]

Been a while since someone posted a quartersawing tutorial on here, so I figured I'd post my method.

Step 1: Find a big oak log.  This was a willow oak log from my grandad's place, about 25" on the small end.


Step 2: Cut about a 4-6" face on four sides of the log.


Step 3: Make a cut 2-3 inches above the pith, removing a large slab.  After removing the slab, you'll be able to take off 4-5 wide boards that will show quartersawn figure.  These can be split in half, since they'll probably crack along the pith anyway, but I figure I can do that when it dries.


Step 4: Turn up the bottom slab 90^o and make a cut about 2" above where the rays are horizontal.  You can remove about 4 boards from this slab that will show quartersawn figure.


Step 5: Now you're left with four cants with live edge.  If you need riftsaw lumber for legs, door frames, or face frames, you can easily get it out of these.  However, I wanted as much quartersawn as possible, so I built two jigs to hold the cants up at a 45^o angle to cut more quartersawn boards.


Step 6: You now have a big pile of boards that need to be edged .


It's a lot of work, but the results speak for themselves.  Practically every board that came out of this log was quartersawn, and there was relatively little waste.


Here's a rough diagram of how the log was sawn (assuming that the log was a perfect cylinder, of course ):
 

[Radar67]

Those are some nice looking boards Dodgy. What you got planned for them?

[Dodgy Loner]

I've been cutting lots of oak over the last year, getting ready to remodel my kitchen and living room.  The living room will have oak paneling, the kitchen will have oak cabinets, and both rooms will have oak floors.  The quarersawn oak will be used in the cabinets.

[WDH]

Looks like you sawed into the night .  That is quarter sawing a quarter past 7:00 .

I see a real nice slab pile growing and a nice sawdust pile as well.  My sawdust pile is a monster, and yours will be too, soon .

Nice pics.  I like the jig.  How is the cant held/clamped onto the jig to keep the log from moving?

[Dodgy Loner]

Yep, it was a full day of sawing.  It was probably only a quarter past six, but there was still just enough light to work outside.  The jig is dirt-simple.  Just some MDF screwed together with 45^o risers.  The log rests against the jig and is clamped using the regular clamps. After I took one or two boards off, there was a flat on the cant large enough to rest on the bed, so I removed the jig, flipped the cant over and kept sawing.

[OneWithWood]

I like the jig.  Simple (elegant) and effective. 

[Dodgy Loner]

I finished edging and stacking the boards yesterday.  I got almost 100 bdft of perfectly clear quartersawn boards from that log .  About 50 bdft of riftsaw to boot.  I actually enjoyed stacking it just because it was so fun to look at

[TexasTimbers]

Nice job Dodgy.

I can't help but ask although it is a common question, but besides great shop heat, were your waste wedges large enough to do something with on the lathe, or to resaw for trim etc.?

[Dodgy Loner]

My wedges were pretty small, as I got boards as narrow as 3" from the quartered cants.  The reason I was willing to cut such narrow boards was that they still had great figure, and I'll be using the lumber to make kitchen cabinets and will be using lots of stock 2" and narrower for face frames and door frames.  Otherwise, I probably would have left the wedges thicker and cut some 3x3s for table legs and turning stock.

[TexasTimbers]

I too cut narrow as long as the boards are showing great rays. I understand what some of the other guys are saying about not being marketable, and in their markets I'm sure it's true. But in niche markets you'll never have a problem getting rid of smaller stuff.

And in your case where you will be using them for rails and stiles, you don't have to worry about the long crooks because you will be cutting them down to where that's almost eliminated anyway. Most long boards that are sold at hardwood lumber yards get cut down at a shop anyway. I'd venture to say 90% and so I never worry about how the board will bow, crook, or warp. I will just take those and cut them to shorter stock. That's for quarter sawing which I don't have much problem with major movement in quarter sawn.

Talking about sawing in general, I hate to see cupping and twist most of all, but I usually am able to get usable wood even out of most of those too. Duck and turkey call  makers are a handy bunch!

Thanks for the tutorial.