The sawyer is faced with several different options for way log is to be cut. Depending on species of log and desired use for lumber that get milled off. Two main choices are flat sawn and quarter sawn.

Flat sawn lumber can be identified by arcing end grain and open, flame look on face of board. Flat sawn lumber is most economical to produce and there for is most common.

Quarter sawn lumber is almost exclusively used for wood working. With quarter sawn lumber a log is milled into quarters, quarters are then sawn perpendicular to grain. This gives lumber a unique characteristic with end grain being vertical. The face of boards show growth rings as alternating light and dark grain lines.

The big advantage to quarter sawn lumber is it's stability. Although it still moves it is a lot less prone to warping then flat sawn lumber because grain isn't subject to radial forces. Depending on what you are building you have choice of what type of lumber you want to use.

Buying Wood:

Soft wood is common and is easy to find throughout North America. Almost every lumber retailer carries plenty of softwood in stock. When buying DO NOT let attendant in yard select which lumber you are going to buy. Go look through lift and select which pieces you want because there tend to be more pieces in lift that are rejects for wood working.

It is a good idea to restack all boards that you rejected while looking through stack. This keeps rejects from warping and twisting beyond being useful and will keep lumber attendant happy.

Keep your eye out for defects when buying wood. this means looking at all four side of piece of lumber before selecting it. A board that looks good on one side may have wain on other side, something you want to avoid.

Hardwoods are a bit trickier to find at a regular lumber yard, especially out here in west. In British Columbia I can go to almost any private sawmill and find spruce, fir or cedar without a problem and pay a good price for it. Of course all these species are readily available, but try doing same for oak of maple. Good Luck.

This tutorial assumes that you know how to safely operate your power tools. Always refer to manufacturer instructions if you are unsure how to use your tools.

Any wood worker needs to take a board from lumber yard or their local sawyer and make this board a uniform thickness, length and width. This board needs to have all four edges square to each other. This is referred to a milling a board four square and is a pre-requisite to any wood working project.

This is best accomplished by using a jointer, thickness planer, miter and circular saws and a table saw. In this example we will mill a board 30" x 4-1/2" x 5/8" with all for edges square to each other.

Step 1: Rough cut your stock Rough cut your stock to 30-3/4" x 4-3/4" and maintain same overall thickness. Start by selecting a piece of stock larger then your finished size (obviously) and use a framing square to square off one end of board. Be sure end isn't checked (cracked) and if it is square board off just beyond where cracks end.

Make cut using a circular saw being careful to make a fairly square cut. Now measure 30-3/4", rough length, and square off board using your framing square. and make second cut same way you made first. Be careful to cut on waste side of line.

Step 2: Rip to rough width The table saw is best tool for this cut. Set rip fence so it is 4-3/4" from blade and set height of blade so gullet of teeth are same height as stock. Following directions included with your table saw start blade and make cut, being sure to use a push stick.

Step 3: Truing one face Now that your piece of stock is rough size needed it is time to true up one face. This is best accomplished with jointer.

As always with jointer it is advisable now to take more than 1/16" per pass. Taking more wood per pass will overwork machine and give results that are less than optimal.