Using Modified Q Sawing Method

[firefighter ontheside]

JYesterday I put a 24" white oak log on the mill and decided to use the modified quarter sawing method that I found on the wood mizer site.  It's slow in the beginning due to having to move large chunks of the log off as you divide the log into cants, but the results were way better than I expected.  It may not be what you get from RRQS, which by the way I've never done, but it was still good.  I will be using this method a lot.


 

 

 

[ladylake]

 That's the way I QS except I'll open up about a 6" face on all 4 side which  make handling and clamping  those chunks you take off the bottom and top easier .  I end up with some really nice rift sawn off the top and bottom pieces when turned up with QS through the center.  NO waste at all and doesn't take much more time.   Steve

[firefighter ontheside]

I'm gonna go out right now and finish cutting the top and bottom cants.  Like you said, I'll get some more quarter sawn, plus some rift sawn.  I may just use some of the rift sawn stuff for stackin sticks.

[ladylake]

 

 I like the looks of rift sawn, no stickers out of mine.  Steve

[WDH]

I had some nice white oak logs to saw, so I did a little experiment.  I sawed one using the modified method that you just did.  The results in yield were 52% quartersawn boards, 45% rift sawn boards, and 3% flat sawn boards.

I sawed another very similar sized log using the octagon method where the log is slabbed to produce eight facets.  Like the shape of a stop sign.  The facets give you more clamping opportunities in turning the log to get the rings oriented right.  Those results were 81% quartersawn, 10.5% rift sawn, and 10.5% flat sawn.  

I have not officially measured the RRRQS technique (Robert's Reverse Roll Quartersawing technique), but the times that I have done it, I estimate the quartersawn yield to be more than 90%.  

The modified technique is fast and produces little waste.  The octagon method is slower and there is more waste from wedge cuts.  The RRRQS technique is slower still and there is more waste from more wedge cuts, but the yield is almost all high fleck/best fleck.  

[firefighter ontheside]

Thanks Danny.  That sounds about right from my experience of the method.  Certainly some of the boards are not truly q sawn, but they still have a good amount of figure.  The waste was quite minimal.  I would say less waste than sawing for slabs.