Timber cuts explained: plain, quarter, rift and through-and-through

At a glance

Angles are from the Wood Handbook (2021), which calls 30 to 60° bastard sawn. The trade does not agree where one cut ends and the next begins, so give an angle range or a sample. No prices are given.

Four ways to saw a log

A sawyer can cut boards from a log in two basic ways. Tangential to the growth rings gives plain sawn (also flat sawn) boards. Radially from the pith, parallel to the rays, gives quarter sawn boards. Between the two lie boards whose rings meet the face at an angle, and a log sawn straight through into parallel boards, through-and-through or live sawn, gives all of them in one stack: quartered boards near the centre, plain boards towards the outside.

In commercial practice, according to the Wood Handbook, boards with rings at 0 to 45° to the wide face are called plain sawn, and those at 45 to 90° quarter sawn. It adds that quarter sawn boards are not usually cut strictly parallel with the rays, and that in plain sawn boards the surfaces next to the edges are often far from tangential to the rings. The drawing shows the idea; a real log does not give boards as neat as this.

Why the word alone is not enough

The boundaries are not fixed. The same words mean slightly different things in the sources we read, and one of them says the terms are used both as opposites and as synonyms. Rift sawn is the least settled: the Wood Handbook’s definitions have no rift category and call 30 to 60° bastard sawn (it uses “rift” only for US oak flooring grades and in a list of abbreviations), while another source says rift sawing means every board is cut on a radius. A tenderer reading “rift sawn” in a specification can therefore supply more than one thing.

The fix is the same as for any other open word: write the angle range you mean, and fix it with a signed control sample of the cut.

What each cut does to the look

Plain sawn brings out the figure of the annual rings: the cathedral arches that most people picture in oak. Quarter sawn brings out figure from the rays, interlocked grain and wavy grain more conspicuously, so in oak it shows ray fleck, and in a species with interlocked grain it gives a ribbon-type stripe (the Wood Handbook gives sweetgum as its example; our veneer glossary gives sapele and anigre). Rift sawn is usually asked for when straight grain is wanted without the fleck. Knots show differently too: round in a plain sawn board and, where a quarter sawn board cuts a knot along its length, as a spike.

The same words are used for veneer, where the knife, not the saw, decides the cut. The US Architectural Woodwork Standards use these names for veneer slicing:

What each cut does when it moves

Wood shrinks and swells with the moisture in the air around it. It moves most in the direction of the rings (tangentially), about half as much across them (radially), and hardly at all along the grain. So the cut decides which way the width moves: a plain sawn board has the tangential direction across its width and the radial through its thickness, and a quarter sawn board the other way round.

The Wood Handbook gives a way to estimate it: the change in a dimension is the size, times a coefficient for the species and direction, times the change in moisture content (Equation 13-3, valid between about 6% and 14%). Using its coefficients for American white oak:

The moisture swing is an illustration: at 21°C the Wood Handbook’s Table 4-2 gives an equilibrium moisture content of 6.2% at 30% relative humidity and 9.2% at 50%, so a heated room that dries from 50% to 30% moves a board about three points. For a glued-up top the figure is the whole width, so the top row of the table is the worst case if every board were plain sawn. Where ring direction is mixed or unknown, the Wood Handbook advises the tangential values.

Board width, cost, and choosing the cut

The standards and the Wood Handbook agree on the direction. Plain sawn boards are the easier to obtain, so they cost less, and they come wide. Quarter sawn lumber is typically narrower than plain sawn of the same species, and its sapwood shows at the edges and is limited by the width of the log. Wide, long pieces of clear stock are typically not available, and if they are they can cost substantially more. None of these sources gives a price or a yield, and we give none.

The cut can be graded by proportion as well as named. The US oak flooring rules summarised in the Wood Handbook, for instance, describe quartersawn grade as 50% quartered character and rift sawn as 75% rift character. That is a flooring grade, not a joinery rule, but it shows why “quarter sawn” on its own is not a measurable requirement. Ask the partner workshop which cuts they buy, in what widths and thicknesses, and what yields they plan for, before the drawings fix board widths. A table drawn 100 mm wider than the boards available is a joint you did not plan.

• Calm, stable width: quarter sawn, accepting narrower boards and more joints across a wide top.
• Cathedral figure, wide boards, tighter budget: plain sawn, allowing for the larger movement across the width.
• Straight grain without fleck: rift sawn, defined by angle or sample.
• A mixed, natural look: through-and-through, with limits on sapwood and the pith.

Whichever you choose, put the species, the cut, the angle range or a control sample, the finished width and the moisture content in the specification, and say how a solid top is to be fixed so that it can move. The specification checklist (clause 3, Cut) shows where this sits among the other clauses, and the veneer sheet covers the same words for veneer.

Species [European oak (Quercus robur or Q. petraea)]. Cut [quarter sawn]: growth rings at [45 to 90] degrees to the wide face on every visible face, ray fleck [acceptable / not wanted]. Match control sample [S-01]; the sample governs if it and the angle disagree.

Cut [rift sawn], defined as growth rings at [30 to 60] degrees to the wide face, straight grain, ray fleck [limited]. Control sample [S-01], signed and dated, held by [party]. Visible faces of this cut only.

Cut [through-and-through (live sawn)]. Boards [kept in log order / sorted for colour]; mixed grain accepted. Sapwood [not permitted on visible faces]; pith [not permitted]. Match control sample [S-01].

Solid timber [top] [1,000] mm wide, [plain / quarter / mixed] sawn. Allow [  ] mm movement across the width for a [4]-point change in moisture content, fixed so that it can move. Moisture content at dispatch [  ]%, [heated] interior, by recorded reading.

Standards and sources

• USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Wood Handbook, FPL-GTR-282 (2021): Ch. 3 pp. 3-15 to 3-16 and Table 3-1; Ch. 4 Tables 4-2, 4-3; Ch. 13 Eq. 13-3, Table 13-5; Ch. 6. Read 5 Nov 2026.
• Architectural Woodwork Standards, 1st edition (2009), Section 3 Lumber and Section 4 Sheet Products: Section 3, 1.2.1 to 1.2.10; Section 4, 1.2.18. US standard.
• Wikipedia: Quarter sawing: through-and-through sawing and the terminology conflict.
• BS EN 975-1:2009 Sawn timber. Appearance grading of hardwoods. Oak and beech: BSI listing only; not read.
• Make Bespoke Studio journal: Wood species for bespoke furniture: species we work in.

Questions we are asked

What is the difference between plain sawn and quarter sawn oak?

Plain sawn boards are cut tangentially to the growth rings, so the rings meet the face at 0 to 45 degrees, giving a cathedral figure. Quarter sawn boards are cut radially, with the rings at 45 to 90 degrees, giving straight grain and, in oak, ray fleck. Quarter sawn boards move less across their width and are typically narrower.

What is rift sawn oak?

Rift sawn oak has growth rings at an angle between plain and quarter sawn, commonly 30 to 60 degrees, and is asked for when straight grain is wanted without the ray fleck. The word is not used the same way everywhere: the Wood Handbook calls that angle range bastard sawn, and other sources say every board is cut on a radius. State the angle range or fix it with a sample.

Which cut is the most stable?

For width, quarter sawn. Using the Wood Handbook figures for American white oak, a quarter sawn board moves about 1.2 mm across 150 mm for a four-point change in moisture content, against about 2.3 mm for plain sawn. Quarter sawn boards also cup and surface-check less. In thickness the position reverses, but the amounts are small.

What is through-and-through (live sawn) timber?

A log sawn straight through into parallel boards. Every ring angle appears in one stack: quarter sawn boards near the centre, plain sawn towards the outside. Because the grain is mixed, the Wood Handbook advises using tangential movement figures where ring direction is mixed or unknown.

Is quarter sawn timber more expensive than plain sawn?

The Wood Handbook says plain sawn lumber costs less because it is easier to obtain, and the US woodwork standards note that quartered lumber is typically narrower. We have no prices, and the premium depends on species, grade and supplier, so ask the partner workshop for the cut you want.