Quarter-Sawn

Quarter-sawn lumber is cut so the growth rings meet the board's face at roughly 60 to 90 degrees, produced by first splitting or sawing the log into quarters, then ripping boards off each quarter radially toward the center. It's a slower, more wasteful milling method than plain-sawing, which is why quarter-sawn stock costs more.

The payoff is real: quarter-sawn boards move less across their width with seasonal humidity changes than flat/plain-sawn boards do, cup less, and wear more evenly. In ray-fleck species like oak, the growth-ring orientation also exposes the wood's medullary rays face-on, producing the shimmering fleck pattern quarter-sawn white oak is prized for in Arts & Crafts furniture -- a look plain-sawn lumber of the same species simply doesn't have.