4/4 quartersawn

[Dan_Shade]

back in march I sawed up a bunch of red oak.  I quarter sawed it as best I could... I sawed it on the 4/4 mark on my saw's ruler, today, we pulled it all out of our solar kiln and the thicknesses were at around 7/8", kinda disappointing, I guess I should have sawn at 5/4.

what's the standard protocol on this stuff?  or is 7/8 after drying about normal?

our moisture content was about 6 according to the pinless meter we have, most of it looked good, and I can't brag enough about logrite or anchorseal!

speaking of which, how come anchorseal is not a sponsor of this fine forum!

[Tom]

Dan,
I cut my hardwoods at 1 1/8.  That insures that they can be dressed to 3/4.

I started sawing years ago listening to the bandsaw manufacturers selling the clean cut of the band.  They talked about how you could cut 7/8's and the customer could still get 3/4.   We were supposed to get more lumber that way and make more money.  The problem was that the customer couldn't get 3/4 dressed from the 7/8's board.

Operator/sawyers began to cut thicker and thicker.  Woodmizer even responded in the middle 1990's  with a Quarter scale that was more liberal than the ones they had previously supplied.

I have had some hard-nosed customers, one a circle sawyer, who demanded 1 5/8 lumber be cut and sold to them for 4/4.  That caused me to not go back to service those people.  I figured that they may have to cut it that thick on their mill but I wasn't going to do it.

I also try to cut widths 1/2" to 1/4" over as well.   There is not much more aggravating than a pretty board that has a little bow and can't be straight-edged.  Cutting it a little wider doesn't guarantee success, but, it sure makes you look better to your customer.  I will tell them what I am doing so that they don't think I am just being sloppy though.

[Dan_Shade]

the customer is me, so i'm the only guy to be happy. (actually, i'm giving some of the nice boards to the guy who gave me the tree too, but he's in on position to complain!)

looks like I"ll be sawing most of my hardwood 5/4 from now on.

[Tom]

Cutting thick boards is a two edge sword.  If you cut them too thick then you wear out planer blades.   Why don't you work in smaller increments until you find what works for you.   I'll bet that 1 1/8 will satisfy you.

Of course there is nothing wrong with 5/4 if you are using the wood yourself.  That way you can build with one inch stock instead of 3/4.

[pigman]

When I got my mill 5 years ago I sawed using what is called on my WM the standard hardwood 4/4 scale, which gives a 1in board. After woodworking for a while, I have been using the grade hardwood 4/4 scale, which gives a full 1 & 1/8in. Like you, my oak was drying too thin to plane out 3/4in.

[Brian_Bailey]

I cut my quarter'd lumber a little bit heavier than plain sawn because QS lumber will shrink more in thickness the farther away from the pith you get.

The thickness will depend on what I anticipate using the lumber for after it dries.

Brian...

[Larry]

I think of two things when sawing hardwoods.  "Store bought" hardwood is 13/16" thick so I like my lumber to be the same.  Most home or small shop planers are doing good to remove 1/8" per pass...don't want the board to require more than two passes through the machine to make a standard thickness board.

When flat sawing I cut 1-1/16"...after kiln drying it will surface to 13/16".  If over 8" wide I cut 1-1/8" thick to allow for any cupping to machine out.  Quarter sawed it is always 1-1/8" thick because shrinkage will be more in the kiln.

[flip]

I bought the 4/4, 1", 5/4 and 6/4 scales from Cooks.  I am dead nut 1 1/8 on the 4/4 scale.  I think it takes into account blade kerf and is liberated for grade sawing.  Nice large marks easy to see and accurate.

Flip