Has anyone come up with a good method of sawing quarter-sawn lumber with close to 90 degree grain on a bandmill? I’ve been using the two commonly described methods for sawing quarter-sawn lumber, and not really been satisfied with the results. The first few boards from the center of the log yield lumber with very close to 90 degree grain and good ray fleck pattern but as I go further and further from the center the grain becomes less and less vertical, and the final narrow boards are actually rift sawn rather than quarter-sawn. What I’m thinking would yield the highest quality would be to first quarter the log, take one board from each face of the quartered sections. then somehow “rotate” the quartered section so as make radial (or very close to radial) cuts  yielding boards which are much like lap siding, thinner near the core of the log and thicker on the bark edge. Then of course the section of each board  nearest the core thinner than 4/4 would be trimmed off, as would the bark, and the piece that’s left would then have to be planed to yield the final piece of uniform thickness. Just haven’t figured out how to go about doing this. I realize that this will result in a lot of material being wasted,  but the resulting boards should have a much higher percentage of good ray fleck pattern than the normally-described methods for milling quarter-sawn boards. I’ve got a nice straight white oak tree that’s been severely storm-damaged which should yield perhaps three 8-foot logs and I’d like to get as much material with good pattern for Mission-style furniture as possible.

I’ve had it suggested that I use the standard quarter-sawn milling technique but go to 6/4 thickness for all but the first few boards, then cut the final board out of each on a bandsaw, tilting the table to get the 90 degree grain that I’m after. This technique I believe was described some years back in Fine Woodworking.  Doing this with short pieces is doable, but working with 8 foot lengths of 6/4 material becomes quite a one-person chore.

The bandmill I’m using, by the way, is a non-hydraulic woodmizer.