Quarter sawn or plain sawn Maple?

[Pat Barry]

I have a silver maple tree in my yard thats going to be taken down. The main trunk is approx 18-22" diameter and is about 8 - 9 ft from the base to the first branch. I have contacted a tree service and they can take it down and leave the main trunk intact as a log and move that to my driveway. I have found a local sawyer who can slab or quarter saw cut it for me in my driveway. The question is, is it going to be the type of wood that is worth the added expense of quarter sawing as opposed to plain sawn. I do want to get a single slab (~ 2" thick) from the center thinking it might make a nice table top. Does anyone have experience with quarter sawn silver maple? Is it the type of wood that has any merit to being quartersawn due to grain patterns? Is this the type of wood better suited to being plainsawn? I'd like to get some help on this decision. Does anyone have any pictures to share that illustrate one approach compared to the other with silver maple?

[Mel Fulks]

It is one of the maples that is sold in the industry as "soft maple".

[Prashun Patel]

Personally, I wouldn't rely on a flatsawn slab through or near the pith. I think you'd do better to cut adjacent qs sections on one side of the pith and then glue them up as a bookmatch.

[Ed Labadie]

IME, Soft Maple is best flatsawn, curly grain is fairly common, shows up best flatsawn.

As has been said, the slab with the pith in it will be a problem child, it'll crack and split for sure.

Ed

[Chris M Pyle]

I prefer riftsawn, then quartersawn then flatsawn for all woods and always in that order.

But if you are just wanting the maximum amount of wood, flatsawn takes the cake.

I'm finding greater dimensional stability in woods riftsawn/quartersawn than any of my flatsawn stock.

If you haven't already, read "Understanding Wood".

[Jim Matthews]

I prefer riftsawn, then quartersawn then flatsawn for all woods and always in that order.

+1 on riftsawn.

Nicest figure I've seen in Soft maples is riftsawn.
Less waste, too.

Pictures, please!

[Pat Barry]

Help me understand. Here is the example image for riftsawn. It looks to be fairly complicated. I didn't ask about this method. How do they line up a log to cut it like that?
rift-sawn.jpg

[Pat Barry]

Here is my tree:
Photo-0697.jpg

[Chris Padilla]

Wood-Grain-01.jpg

A little more information.

[Pat Barry]

So I did some reading, now I feel like I'd hate to mess this up if there is a chance there is nice figure in this wood. Here is what the Wood Database says: "Quilted maple is so named for its resemblance to patchwork patterns seen on fabric quilts. Much like birdseye maple, the figure on quilted maple becomes most pronounced when the board has been flatsawn, which is the opposite of curley maple, which becomes most prominent when quartersawn." Trouble is, they don't give me a clue on whether you can predict which figure, if either, you might find. http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-...quilted-maple/

[Pat Barry]

Wood-Grain-01.jpg

A little more information.

Chris, the descriptions don't match between the figure on the left and the ones on the right. It seems there isn't a standard for describing rift sawn and quarter sawn. Many places seem to interchange them

[Jim Matthews]

It's easy enough to test; flatsaw the first half.

If you're happy with the results, keep going.
If not, you can quarter the second half and have them
either rift or quartersawn.

What does your sawyer say?

They likely know more than any ten of us kibbitzing from the sidelines...

[Pat Barry]

That might be a very good solution Jim. That first cut might also show enough figure to make a decision. I'll have to ask the sawyer. When I last talked to him he was trying to steer me to plain sawn. I thought that was because it was just easier and it was a small job for him

[Yonak Hawkins]

It's really too bad when you have to take down a yard tree like that.

[Mark Kornell]

Help me understand. Here is the example image for riftsawn. It looks to be fairly complicated. I didn't ask about this method. How do they line up a log to cut it like that?
rift-sawn.jpg

Pat, this image shows boards all cut quartersawn, not riftsawn. it is a fairly inefficient use of the log.