It's all in the cut

Although I'm an extremely amazing designer and craftsman (please note sarcasm), I'm still learning quite a bit. That's actually one of the reasons I like doing this kind of work. Isn't it hard to learn new things when you're no longer in school?

For a very long time I had assumed that I knew what "quarter sawn" lumber was. I thought this meant that the wood was milled in exact quarter dimensions, such as 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, etc. I also thought this "style" of cut was sort of the opposite of dimensional lumber, such as one-by-fours and two-by-fours (which are actually only 3/4" and 1 1/2" thick).

However, I just stumbled on a great little article, which includes simple explanatory drawings, that highlights the difference... it's all in the cut...http://www.allwoodwork.com/article/woodwork/plainorquartersawn.htm