Question
What's the advantage of flitch sawing a log, especially if you want the best lumber possible, which I've understood to be called "sawing for grade"?
Forum Responses
(Sawing and Drying Forum)
From Professor Gene Wengert, forum technical advisor:
Can you explain what you mean by flitch sawing?
It seems that flitch sawing is becoming more of a trend after George Nakashima established himself for natural edged free form furniture. Basically, grade sawing produces clean grain, and flitch sawing produces character.
I am assuming that you mean flitch sawing to be the same as through and through sawing. While sawing through and through/flitching, it is a good idea to cut out the pith (center core) and throw it into the firewood pile. But sometimes you can get away with leaving it depending on species (and dimensions to be cut), and allowing the woodworker to decide its fate.
If you are sawing for yourself, you might want to quartersaw. Quartersawn boards hold a higher value, and are more stable.
There is more information in "Sawing, Edging, and Trimming Hardwood Lumber," available through the Forest Products Society or the NHLA.
I flitch or through and through saw when I am dealing with crotch wood, burls, and rare woods like pear, apple, and large walnuts. Many people in my area seek to make George Nakashima replicas, or pieces similar to James Krenov in the contemporary style. Or maybe Chippendale highboys with walnut crotch figure. My customers want to work with natural edged boards because they have a sense of fulfillment dealing with a board that more resembles the original tree. 75% of my sawing work is not flitching and I do understand that world, but it is not what I am trying to work into. It's just my bread and butter for now and I do still love it just because it's sawing. But to me boards that are edged lose their character and their identity. There are many successful companies out there that deal with flitches (but not strictly).
As far as warping goes in flitch sawn wood, due to a combination of grain patterns, you just have to know what you're doing and take the time to care for it to eliminate the additional warp.
I don't know of any sawmills that can't handle at least 25" in actual cutting width except for swing blade mills.
I agree that the lumber grade is lower, but character is the goal of flitched boards. Sawing speed is definitely increased, but extra care is needed in certain steps. When setting up a log to be flitched, you can generally only move the log twice… Once to position the log for the initial cut and continual cutting until you are too close to the log clamps or dogs. And twice to flip the log 180 degrees to use the last cut as a parallel reference on the deck of the mill to continue sawing so your last cut is parallel to the last cut you took in the first position of the log. While flipping the log 180 degrees, you must take care not to damage the edge. This may be easy on small logs, but try it on a 20"+ diameter log! It is easy for me to flip large logs because I have a knuckleboom. This may make it easy for me with little effort, but it comes at a large price and the logs must pay for the boom to justify it, and they have.
For the typical hardwood log, however, I do not believe that flitch sawing can yield higher value lumber. In fact, there have been studies looking at the loss in lumber grade when flitch sawing typical hardwood logs, and the loss is substantial. I did say that the "average lumber grade and value" were lower. With the specialty products you mention, we would bypass standard lumber grading.
I managed a circular mill with a 54" diameter blade. Our maximum cut was a fraction over 19". This would be the maximum for many circular mills. Band mills can usually cut larger; for example, the WoodMizer LT-40 has a 28" wide throat.
But if you took a 24 inch straight grained red oak log and through and through sawed the log, you would lose money more times than not. For someone who is just playing around with the mill on the weekends and not making a living from sawing, this may be okay. But from the standpoint of buying a log and making it pay the best, it would be most profitable to grade saw.
Yes, there are markets for qsawn and rift sawn lumber, but one must count the cost of the lost center wood that would have gone as a tie. There are handling concerns and wasted space in kilns that must also be considered and these costs are added to any profit seen by through and through sawing.
Through and through sawing also has stress relief problems as well as handling and turning problems. How much time is lost turning a log on the mill with a KB loader? That would imply that the mill is out in the open, so days lost sawing to weather will have to be counted, or only saw when it is nice. Weight of the larger pieces must be considered. The questioner asked how to produce the best lumber, and by-in-large, grade sawing is the best way.
Flitched boards are about the character, but too bad it's impossible to flitch a log and not get pure plainsawn or pure quartersawn, or pure rift, with the natural edge just for character for the final piece made from the wood.
Are there any standards for grading flitched wood? I have researched pricelists on many various web pages and all seem to be within a ballpark figure per board foot.
Contributor A, why would I lose time with a knuckleboom loader? It is indoors in a Morton building with tall ceilings. I couldn't saw everyday of the week like I do, if it wasn't for my business partner who provided the building and the KB (not to mention all the logs, being that he owns a tree service).
I visited your webpage and it looked like you were loading your logs with a tractor setup with forks. I imagine that would slow you down, compared to me with a knuckleboom setup with a grapple. But then again, nobody knows a machine like a full time operator.
Yes, some logs will yield better market when through and through sawn and the reason you see the common price is that it is what the market will bear. A swing mill with a slabber is the best way to saw these large chucks of logs and make the widest boards.
Only the few pieces near the center of the log (when flitch sawing, when sawing through and through, or when live sawing - same name) would be quarter or rift sawn. Pieces further out will be flat sawn. This is true even for a perfect log.
