What is true quartersawing and plainsawing

[bkhunter]

I've been looking around a lot of websites and in books and magazines, and I'm getting conflicting info on what is the true pattern for both quartersawing and plainsawing logs. Are there in fact different styles within the name? I would appreciate any image I could get to verify the correct methods.

[Tom]

Welcome Bkhunter.

Sawing to a pattern is an aid to the end.  There are a lot of ways to produce lumber in both configurations.  A search of the forum will provide many instances of members suggesting ways to quarter-saw or flat-saw.

The terms quarter sawed or flat-sawed are just ways of producing Vertical grain or Horizontally grain oriented boards.

Because each log is different, not round, not perfectly centered, not perfectly straight, etc., the means of getting one grain orientation or the other may incorporate several different methods of extraction.   While a sawyer may have a pet method, the real judge is the product and the fact that the sawyer understands the goal.
Patterns will vary depending on the type of equipment.

Here is a start:
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=9927.0
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=5694.msg78306#msg78306
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=2156.0
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=7697.0
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=16036.0

[flip]

I found by my last adventure in sawing, you have to go parallel with the medullary rays, in other words plan on propping the log or cant to get the most yield or check out urbanloggers site for the easiest ways.

Flip