Flat-sawn oak shows the bold arches and loops most people picture when they think of oak. Quarter-sawn oak shows straight, tight grain with shimmering flakes called ray fleck, especially in white oak, and it shrinks and cups less. Rift-sawn oak shows straight grain with little or no fleck. Live-sawn boards are cut straight through the log without turning it, so you get a mix of all three, often with the edges left wide.
The difference comes from one thing: the angle between the growth rings and the face of the board. Choose the angle, and you choose the look and how the board behaves.
Read the end of a board
Look at the end grain of any board. You'll see the growth rings as curved lines.
- Rings roughly flat across the end (about 0 to 30 degrees to the face): flat-sawn, also called plain-sawn.
- Rings at a steep diagonal (about 30 to 60 degrees): rift-sawn.
- Rings close to vertical (about 60 to 90 degrees): quarter-sawn.
Those angle ranges are the common trade definitions. Real boards blend from one to the next, and a single wide flat-sawn board often has quartersawn grain along its edges.
Flat-sawn (plain-sawn) oak
How it's cut. The log is sawn in parallel slices, usually turning it to saw from different faces. The board faces run roughly tangent to the growth rings.
What it looks like. Wide boards with the classic "cathedral" pattern: V-shaped arches and loops up the center of the board, straighter grain at the edges. In red oak, the pattern is bold and open. In white oak, it's a little tighter and the color is more olive-brown.
How it behaves. Wood shrinks about twice as much along the growth rings as it does across them. A flat-sawn board has the rings running across its width, so it shrinks more in width and tends to cup as it dries. It's perfectly stable once dry and properly used, but it moves more with seasonal humidity than quarter-sawn.
Why people choose it. It's the most efficient way to saw a log, so you get the most board feet and the widest boards for the money. It's the standard cut for most furniture, cabinets, flooring, trim, barn siding and trailer decking.
Quarter-sawn oak
How it's cut. The log is first sawn lengthwise into quarters (or cants), and boards are sawn from each quarter so the face runs roughly along the radius of the log. There are several ways to saw a quarter. All of them take more turning and more passes than flat sawing.
What it looks like. Tight, straight, parallel grain lines. Across them run the medullary rays, ribbons of cells that radiate out from the center of the tree. When the saw cuts along a ray, it shows on the face as a flash of lighter, shiny figure called ray fleck or ray flake.
Ray fleck in white oak vs red oak. Both oaks have large rays, but white oak's rays are taller, so quarter-sawn white oak shows big, dramatic flakes that catch the light. That's the look of Arts and Crafts, Mission and Craftsman furniture. Quarter-sawn red oak shows fleck too, usually smaller and more frequent, on a pinker background.
How it behaves. The rings run through the thickness of the board, so the board's width sits in the direction wood shrinks least. Quarter-sawn boards shrink less in width, cup less and stay flatter. That's why they're chosen for tabletops, doors, flooring, and anything that needs to stay put through Missouri's humid summers and dry, heated winters.
The cost. Quarter sawing produces narrower boards and fewer board feet from the same log, and it takes more time at the mill. You need a larger log to get wide quarter-sawn boards. Expect it to cost more per board foot than flat-sawn, whether you're buying lumber or paying to mill your own log.
Rift-sawn oak
How it's cut. Rift boards come from cutting at an angle to the rays, between flat and quarter. Some come from the edges of quarter-sawn and flat-sawn boards; dedicated rift sawing wastes more of the log than either.
What it looks like. Straight, even, linear grain on the face and on the edges, with little or no ray fleck. It looks calm and uniform.
Why people choose it. Table legs and chair parts, where you want straight grain on all four faces. Modern cabinetry and paneling, where fleck would be distracting. It's stable, like quarter-sawn.
The cost. The lowest yield of any cut. It's usually the most expensive.
Live-sawn oak
How it's cut. The log is sawn straight through from one side to the other without turning it, and usually without trimming the edges square. Every board is a cross-section of the log.
What it looks like. A mix in every board. The outer boards are flat-sawn. The boards from the center of the log have quarter-sawn grain, and often ray fleck, along much of their width, with flat-sawn grain in between. Boards are wide, sometimes as wide as the log, with natural edges if they're left unedged.
How it behaves. Each board behaves according to where it came from: center boards like quarter-sawn, outer boards like flat-sawn. Boards that include the pith, the very center of the tree, tend to crack along it as they dry. Many people cut the pith out of the center board or rip it into two narrower boards.
Why people choose it. Maximum width and maximum yield, plus the look of the whole log in each piece. It's how live-edge slabs are usually cut, and it's a fast, efficient way to saw a log you want to keep together.
Which cut for your project?
- Barn siding, fence boards, trailer decks, rough framing: flat-sawn. Most wood for the money.
- General furniture, shelving, cabinets: flat-sawn, or a mix if you want some quartered figure.
- Tabletops, doors and anything that must stay flat: quarter-sawn.
- Arts and Crafts or Mission style, or you love ray fleck: quarter-sawn white oak.
- Table legs, chair parts, clean modern looks: rift-sawn.
- Wide boards, bench tops, a single log kept together: live-sawn.
If you're bringing your own oak log, you can often mix cuts from one log. A common approach is to quarter-saw the best part of a large log and flat-saw the rest. Tell us what you're building and we'll suggest a cut pattern.
Does the log size matter?
Yes. Flat and live sawing work on almost any log big enough to mill. Quarter sawing needs a larger diameter, because each board's width can be no more than about half the log's diameter, minus the bark and the center. A 14-inch log makes narrow quarter-sawn boards; a 24-inch log makes good ones. To see how much lumber a log holds overall, check the board-foot chart.
White oak or red oak?
Both are common in mid-Missouri. Beyond fleck and color, the practical difference is outdoors: white oak's pores are plugged with growths called tyloses, which make it far more resistant to water and rot than red oak. That's why white oak is the barrel and boat wood. Red oak's open pores let water wick in, so keep it indoors or well protected.
Get a Quote
Have an oak log and want quarter-sawn boards, wide live-sawn slabs or both? Send photos of the log ends, the diameter and length, and what you're building. We'll suggest a cut pattern and quote it.