RIFT + QUARTERED
Rift and Quartered are terms that refer to the visual characteristics of the grading face of each board. The “ray fleck,” “flake,” or “figure” of a quarter-sawn board is the medullary ray of the log, which emanates outward from the center of the log like spokes of a wheel. The degree to which this “ray fleck” is revealed is a function of the angle of the growth rings to the face of the boards. When the growth rings are 90 degree to the face of the board the medullary ray is opened the greatest extent possible. As the angle of the growth rings to the face of the board decreases, less medullary ray fleck or (Quarter Sawn) is revealed. Rift boards and Quartered boards share one characteristic. The growth rings manifest themselves on the face of the board as straight grain, with no visible cathedral grain or plain sawn look.
PLAIN SAWN
In plain sawing the log is passed through the blade cutting off plank after plank without changing the orientation of the blade or log. The resulting planks have different annual ring orientations when viewed from the end. The relative angle that form the rings and the surface go from almost zero degrees in the external planks to almost ninety degrees at log core.
