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Quartersawn oak is available by certain rough board lumberyards. I have it available up here in New England in NH/ME although it's expensive at 4 to 5 a foot.

Don't you know by now that I can get you a wood fix? Who da man for ripping you guys new Ash-poles, huh?

I asked Colonial Hardwoods months ago if they can get Q-sawn white oak & they told me they can. What did your E-bay lot go for per board foot? I'll get you the number & you can call Felix tomorrow for prices.

OK, so I couldn't get them to turn 15' tapered lance shafts, but otherwise they rock for getting unique stuff.

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While visiting family in St. Paul, MN this last weekend, I found a hardwood dealer who has more quarter sawn white oak than one could shake a stick at. The price was about $6 per board foot. If anyone is in the area and wants more information, let me know.

Would anyone care to hypothesize as to WHY quarter sawn wood was the medieval norm (assuming it was?)? Quarter sawing seems to produce so much more waste than modern methods, though it does make for a pretty board.

Any thoughts?

And they (Colonial Hardwoods) have alder, English brown oak & English beech! You da man!

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Thanks for your thoughts John - this is an area that I don't understand as well as I'd like just yet. Would you go as far as to say ALL medieval wood (excepting timber used for beams/construction) was cut in this manner?

quote:

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posted 09-24-2002 01:46 PM                     
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Quartersawing was the norm because it is the result you get from splitting the wood radially from the log, and green oak splits readily, thus making this the most economical means of production.

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This is to say, a log is split into quarters along its long axis, and the quarters are sawed into boards, if I'm not misunderstanding you.

Does the smaller size of the quartered sections make it easier to saw the boards, or is it the aesthetics (nicer grain pattern) and the greater stability of the quarter sawed boards that makes this sawing method more attractive?

Thanks

David

Quartersawing was evidently standard for the oak panels commonly used by northern Renaissance painters. The stability of quartersawn oak, seasoned for several years before the panel was painted, was the key to the long-term survival of this sort of painting. A badly-prepared panel would simply flex, crack and flake off the painting in short order. The fact that so many panels exist in good condition basically gives the lie to the notion that "they didn't understand working with dry wood" in the late middle ages, as has sometimes been claimed.