quartersawing trees, other than white oak ?

[panman]

Just wondering if the grain is enhanced in any other species of tree, besides white oak, when quartersawn?
In other words, would it be worth the hassle?
Jim

[John Bartley]

Quartered Honey Locust is a spectacular wood!  I'm sure there are many others also, probably many that we aren't fortunate enough to see in these colder climates.

cheers

John

[Dan_Shade]

sycamore comes to mind

I find quartersawn cherry to show an interesting grain, but sycamore and oak are much more spectacular

[footer]

I have never seen QS honey locust. Ill have to check it out .....Red Oak can also have a good ray pattern, although not as much as white oak. Dan beat me to the sycamore.

[WDH]

Beech is also impressive.

[LeeB]

Elm can have nice figure.

[Coon]

White birch can have some bequtiful colors in the bigger logs.

[sigidi]

I remember back in the old days (when I was a forum member before my self imposed hiatus and then came back:D) I remember someone making a post about what things to look for when thinking about QS a log and gave a few tips/pointers to keep in mind. So that way it didn't matter what the species was, you looked for these few things and it gave a good indication of really nice patterns derived from QS the log... maybe something like 'what makes a good log to QS' or something like that...

After doing a few different searches with some creative keywords, I found it

http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,11130.0.html\

A good pic and description of what to look for in a log to get the better looking QS lumber

[panman]

Allan;
Thanks again.
Think I'll try it on every big log I saw, what the hay. I would think the boards would dry with less cupping, twisting, etc?
Had a big old white oak crash on my fence the other night, went out cut her through in a few spots. Hollow from top to bottom.
When I was bowhunting, I had 3 coon come out of the top every time I sat there, hoped it wasn't hollow all the way down, I was wrong.
Well, the old lady was about out of firewood!
For all you non-bikers, "old lady", is not my mom.
Jim

[Tom]

Here I go, touting the Wood Handbook again.  The guys at the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin sure did a fine job.

Read Chapter 1 and you will find descriptions of the hardwoods and softwoods found in North America.  At the end of the chapter you will even find some imported woods.
http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr113/ch01.pdf

Chapter 3 talks about flat-sawn versus Quarter-sawn woods and there is even a chart that indicates which is generally the one that gets the best grain figure from the log.
http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr113/ch03.pdf

Read the entire handbook and keep it handy.  I've found it to be one of the best and to-the-point government documents available.

[sigidi]

Hey Tom, thanks for that, it's quite interesting to know you guys also get balau, meranti and merbau. We tend to get heaps of that, used primarily in decking from New Guinea forests. Also pretty cool you guys know one of our western states big trees Marri

[LeeB]

Hey Tom, thanks for that, it's quite interesting to know you guys also get balau, meranti and merbau. We tend to get heaps of that, used primarily in decking from New Guinea forests. Also pretty cool you guys know one of our western states big trees Marri

I would'nt say we get them just because they are in the handbook. I've never heard of them outside of liturature.

[panman]

WDH;
Are you talking Hornbeam, or Ironwood.
Seems like most of the Ironwood I've cut over the years, will be hollow on the bigger trees.
Sure makes the sparks fly, how does it saw with a bandmill?
Jim

[Chuck White]

Panman;  I sawed an 8"x8' Hophornbeam last summer.
It's definitely different.  Kind of stringy.  It'd be nice looking stuff after planing.  But beautiful grain to it!
I'll bet it would demand  a premium $$$ as a furniture lumber.

[panman]

Chuck;
I have quite a bit of the stuff on my place. I know the trees are always lumpy. Never thought about, what that might do to the grain?
I've made selfwood bows from Ironwood, makes a decent bow.
I'll give it a go, supposed to cool down by the weekend. Can't get out in the woods, went from 4' of snow, to 4' of mud in a week.
Jim

[Dodgy Loner]

WDH;
Are you talking Hornbeam, or Ironwood.
Seems like most of the Ironwood I've cut over the years, will be hollow on the bigger trees.
Sure makes the sparks fly, how does it saw with a bandmill?
Jim

I think he was talking about beech, not hornbeam or ironwood. As he said:

Beech is also impressive.

In addition to white oak, the woods I like to quartersaw are:

Red oak
Beech
Sycamore
Elm
Sweetgum

With the elm and sweetgum, the quartersawing doesn't really produce superior grain patterns, but it minimizes the negative effects of the interlocking grain, so you don't seem to get as much twist in the boards. The boards are a little more prone to tearout when planed, so it's a bit of a tradeoff.

[WDH]

Yes, the big three are the Oaks, Sycamore, and Beech.  BTW, Oak is in the Beech family.  Cousins.

[inwoodcutter]

I looooove quartered sycamore.  Don't be afraid to reset the cant once it goes into a rift cut to go back to quartered. It's definitely worth it.

Dan

[WDH]

I have a nice big sycamore that I will be quartersawing on the little LT15 in the next week or so.  I will take a few pics.