Plainsawn, Quartersawn, Riftsawn, Livesawn
Your flooring options just don't stop, and this set of choices may be the most interesting of all! How logs get sawn at the mill has a huge impact on the look of your flooring. Let's learn about the options.
Plainsawn
Just as it sounds plainsawn is the most common method of sawing lumber. Along with being the simple it is cost effective and leaves minimal waste. So what does this look like?
The beauty of plain sawn shows up in the long grain of the wood creating an effect know as "cathedraling."
This effect is due to how the wood is exposed to the saw as it is cut. As we all know growth rings in a tree are concentric circles radiating outward. The saw carriage rotates the log with every cut moving from the outside to the inside exposing the grain as it goes.
This method was dominant for most of the twentieth century and so has largely formed our ideas of what flooring grain should look like. The method of cutting also has an impact on how your flooring moves moisture. Plainsawn boards change in dimension across their width, so the wider the board is the more the potential for dimensional change.
Quartsawn
This approach is also known as quartered and radially sawn which when you see the graphic below explains it quite well. As the image shows the annual growth rings are at 90 degrees to the surface.
As the name directly implies the log is first quartered and then those quarters are sliced. While this method is not widely known it does reveal a spectacular effect in the grain known as flecking. Flecking in the grain is created by the way the saw cuts across the wood revealing medullary rays where the flecking occurs. The medullary rays are perpendicular to the annual growth rings and therefore parallel to the surface of the quartersawn board.
This method was a highly distinctive feature of the American Arts and Crafts movement. The designer Gustav Sticklely, said the following of quarter sawing, "The quartersawing method of cutting... renders quartersawn oak structurally stronger, also finer in grain, and, as shown before, less liable to warp and check than when sawn in any other way.
Quartersawn
This cut has annual growth rings at 45 degrees, with a lineal grain pattern. In understanding rift sawn it is extremely important to know where the cuts are made. First the log is quartered and then the cuts move from the center face and works its way out. The planks that come from the outside edges have 45 degree annual growth rings. This comes from the smaller part of the quartered wedge.
Livesawn
Also known as the "Euro cut" live sawn has the log cut without any turning. This method uses the entirety of the wood which means that there is no avoiding the knots and other rustic content of the log. Live sawn wood combines all aspects of rift and quarter and plain sawn leaving you with an extremely dynamic floor.
Live sawn flooring gives you this great look in white oak.
So there you go! A very basic primer for how lumber can be milled to give you a more unique and dynamic floor. Now get in touch and let's get to work.
Recent Articles
- October 31, 2019Happy Halloween!
- September 11, 2019Learn the true story of how we came to have wood floors
- August 8, 2019Stop what you are doing and be amazed at these trees
- July 16, 2019Prepare to be floored. A gallery of some mind blowing installations
