Quartersawing Red Oak on Band Saw.

[MartyParsons]

Hello,
  I did a quarter sawing demo at owner day. I have some pictures and will comment on each. You are welcome to add any comments. I will keep adding to the post as I get time.
There are three methods listed on the internet that describes quartersawing. I am using at least two.



 

We will start with a Red Oak Log. This log was donated for the demonstration. 10' long and 32" on the small end. The log owner will get the lumber in return for the donation.

Weight of the log was estimated at 4096# So we were a little under the max weight limit of the sawmill. I did try to move with our fork lift rated at 2795# lifting. Went to the Farmall 300. John Deere 310 did pick it up about 2' off the ground.

Board Feet in the log. 490' Doyle  470' International 460' Scribner

There is Blue Stain on the end of the log but no metal was found.



  

Inspecting the end of the log to find any growth rings that be 90 degrees to my cut. Every log is different. This takes time once you make a cut you will be committed to your decision or you will have more waste. If you look at the tape measure right above 6" there is an area of straight grain. You would turn the log counter clockwise a little so this would be 90 degrees to the blade or cut. You will not take this cut till later in the process.



 

The log is not perfectly round this may help.



 

Next step is to measure from the bed rail to the pith or center of the log at each end. Note this takes time! The saying measure twice cut once should be applied here. If you have an ugly log and the pith is not centered or there is no way to make it centered, the lumber quality will suffer.  At this point nothing else matters except that the pith must be the same height from the bed rail at each end. If you have taper or toe boards use them. Note you may need to remove some of the outside cuts so it will fit the throat of the mill.



 

Here is a picture of the log after we squared it. At some times if the log is ugly you may not be able to square it like this.
Another note! I did split this log through the pith. Most times you do the best you can. Lower the saw head as low as you can go. Look at the angle of the growth rings. I had the log turned 180 degrees from where it is now and I could not split the pith. So I measured it then turned the log. It worked out- - - almost.



 

As you can see from this picture I made it in about 12" and the motion of the head stopped. Had some interference on the metal box.
Almost made it to the end and the log moved in toward the side supports.



 

We then had to get the fork lift raise the top cut and back the saw head out, do some trimming on the end of the log with a chain saw and complete the cut.



 

This was 31" width of Red Oak. The results were worth all of challenges!

In the center not sure what causes the defects. If you can help with the definition that would be great. Some said shake, some said freezing temps. 



 

We removed one of the halves and we did two cuts off the center, then the rings started to turn off or 90 degree. You could see the medullary rays changing. The closer you stay 90 degrees to the growth rings the more defined the rays are. There is a lot of theory posted on this subject I encourage you to search for more information if you have interest.



 

If you look to the left of the picture you can see the rings are 90 degrees to the cut line. As we look to the right you can see the rings bending. It is possible to get Flat Sawn, Rift Sawn and Quarter Sawn in the same board.
The other discussion on how to dry this correctly. Do you remove the defects before drying or after?



 

These pictures above of the end of the log showing the grain. The front end the grain is 90 degrees from the cut. The back end of the log the grain is a little different. ( You thought this would be easy )  :'( .



 

The picture above. We are now changing our method. We have a half then we sawed a quarter. Again you would lower the saw head down and imagine the grain and the cut at 90 degrees. I think I cut 4 or 5 cuts once we removed the quarter and before we turned to another face.



 

Here is a quarter. We had this face laying on the bed and did the cut off the bottom, Here you start sawing from the bottom up to get the widest boards with the most value. Sorry I did not brush off the sawdust.



 



 

We did get three or four flat sawn boards off the log. These were sawn off the log to get it to fit into the throat.



 

I hope this helps you if you attempt this at your location!! If you have questions send me a pm or ask in this link.

Thanks!

If you have questions or comments please add.

Marty

[4x4American]

Looking good.  The new fuel tanks look funny to me!  Nice spot to be setup under cover and on concrete.

[thechknhwk]

And Marty is cheating this is a 40 W-I-D-E head :D :D :D

[WV Sawmiller]

And Marty is cheating this is a 40 W-I-D-E head :D :D :D

   Not cheating - he said this was a demo. He's trying to sell them! I wish I'd had one earlier this week for oversized logs. Just mill them instead of splitting them first.

    Good thread. I am waiting with bated breath (whatever that is) for the rest of the pix.

[Weekend_Sawyer]

Yup, definitely watching with interest.  ;D

[Glenn Ohman]

I'll be following along.

Glenn

[york]

Same here,will follow this thread and don`t worry what Red Oak smells like.....

[Ox]

This will be a nice step by step with pics for everyone to learn from and enjoy.  Thanks, Marty!

[brad918]

Stopped by Marty's open house Saturday and watched the guys milling this beast. Learned much and had a great time! Hopefully Marty shows a picture of the wide center board he got from this log!

[alanh]

I just did my first quarter saw "practice" log last month, a 30" red oak,  I`ll be watching this so I realiize how bad I screwed it up...

[ncsawyer]

I too will be watching Marty's progress.  I didn't realized there was such a thing as a LT-40 Wide.  I have seen the LT-70 Wide advertised on the website but nothing about the LT-40. 

[Larry]

I quarter sawed this red oak in April.

   

Can't remember the size but I had to whittle it down considerably to pass the 36" throat.  I marked red lines following the rays than made a decision on how to open for maximum figure....not yield.

I don't like quarter sawing red oak as the flake is hardly ever worth the additional effort.

Waiting for Marty's next post....I always pick up a trick or two from him.

[Ga Mtn Man]

I too will be watching Marty's progress.  I didn't realized there was such a thing as a LT-40 Wide.  I have seen the LT-70 Wide advertised on the website but nothing about the LT-40.

If they're making one, they sure are keeping it secret.    ???

[4x4American]

I just figgered he was joking about the wide head part, seeing as how there were laughing smileys there

[thechknhwk]

I was joking that Marty was cheating, but the wide head is real.

[Delawhere Jack]

Marty, take the band off, set the head height and run it down the length of the log to check for clearance.

[Larry]

The other discussion on how to dry this correctly. Do you remove the defects before drying or after?

The log I pictured is of similar size.  I sawed 4 or 5 boards out of the center of similar width, around 30" wide.  As I normally do, I left the cob in until the lumber was air dried.  Last week the lumber was at 14% so I took down the stack and edged out the cob.  Edging gave me a nice straight edge, and at 14% the board will only crook a minimal amount or none.  If I had edged out the defect when first sawed, I would now have boards with a lot of crook needing re-edging or multiply trips through the jointer.

[Upper]

Instead of taking the band off,could'nt you hang a couple plumb bobs on the guides?

[terrifictimbersllc]

Never did it but if  max width was marked on the bed rails it would be easy to use a framing square to judge clearance.

[Ox]

It would be faster and easier to use magnetic straight edges to check for this clearance, no?  Stick em on and run down the track.  If they fall off, something needs trimming...

[Weatherby]

It was an excellent demo and a really good day.  Thanks again to you Marty and your wonderful staff

[Stephen1]

Hi guys, I'm resurrecting this thread,
I have a customer that wants 40 stair treads, 
He wants 48" X 10"x 2"
He wants Quarter sawn, I am not sure I have enough red oak to make that many 10" wide stair treads.
does he need quarter sawn? Will flat suffice for stair treads?
What would you charge for quarter sawn? What would you charge for flat sawn?
Steve