What is "quarter sawing"

vb. (present participle of quarter saw English)

Quarter sawing is a type of cut in the rip-sawing of logs into lumber. The resulting lumber is called quartersawn (quarter-sawn), quartered, and radially-sawn. There is widespread confusion between the terms quartersawn and riftsawn with both words defined 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 and sapele is likely to produce a ribbon figure.