Quarter sawing

Quarter sawing or quartersawing is a woodworking process that produces quarter-sawn or quarter-cut boards in the rip cutting of logs into lumber. The resulting lumber can also be called radially-sawn or simply quartered. There is widespread confusion between the terms rift sawn and quarter sawn with the terms defined both with opposite meanings and as synonyms.

Quarter-sawn boards have greater stability of form and size with less cupping, shrinkage across the width, shake and splitting, and other good qualities. In some woods such as oak, the grain produces a decorative effect which shows a prominent ray fleck, while sapele is likely to produce a ribbon figure.