[EKStationers] Thanks, and some info, (long)

[Lyle H. Gray]

On Wed, 30 Mar 2005, Raffaella wrote:

> 1st - Quarter sawn wood.  I had no clue what this was.
> Instead of a board being sawn into planks from top to bottom,
> it is cut into quarters. What's the difference? The grain of
> the wood. In quarter sawn wood, the grain is straight, and
> less prone to warping. Others leave the curve of the
> tree-rings in tact, and will bend with the curve. Quarter
> sawn is expensive, because there is a lot of waste -they
> ditch the outer curved, barky edges to get the straight grain
> only. And it takes a bit more work to cut.  But, as I said,
> it is stronger and won't warp over time.

You'll find some yards will sell something called 'Clear Vertical
Grain' (CVG) wood.  Strictly speaking, it's not quarter sawn, but
the grain runs through the cross-section of the wood the same way
that quarter sawn does.

> 2nd - How it's cut.  Did you know that different tools move
> the wood grain different ways?  More modern circular saws cut
> in one direction, and the wood tears/cuts in one direction.
> Medieval saws were like 2-man logging saws, or a 2 man
> bow-saw with handles. The grain got pulled/cut in both
> directions. Not a huge difference, but I gather there is a
> difference in the finished product. Probably not so important
> since you'd be covering the book board anyway, but if you
> want to be uber-authentic it's good to know.

An alternative is to use boards that are split off of a billet,
using a froe.  This is for someone who has _way_ too much time on
their hands, because of item 3, planing/sanding. ;-)


-- 
Lyle H. Gray
gray at cs.umass.edu -- text only, please
http://members.verizon.net/~vze3wwx7
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Shared knowledge is preserved knowledge.