Quarter & Rift Sawn White Oak Products

Tilo makes a number of products using quarter & rift sawn white oak, including

architectural millwork
cabinets
doors
flooring
furniture
moulding
paneling

Browse our selection of Standard Profiles or talk to us about a Custom Profile using quarter & rift sawn white oak hardwood.

What is Quarter & Rift Sawn?

Quarter sawing

Quarter sawing refers to a technique of cutting boards from logs. Quartersawn boards show striped grain lines and have greater stability than flatsawn wood. Overall quartersawn boards are less likely to warp, and there's less chance of shrinkage in white oak hardwood.

Rift sawing

Rift sawing is another technique of cutting boards from logs, different from quarter sawing. Each board is cut along a radius of the original log, so that the saw cuts at right angles to the tree's growth ring. Lumber that is rift sawn is highly stable, but produces a great deal of waste (in the form of wedge-shaped scraps from between the boards). Therefore it's a less-commonly used technique than flat sawing and quarter sawing. The waste may be used as firewood or for some other purpose.

General Description of Quarter & Rift Sawn White Oak

The sapwood is light in color and the heartwood is light to dark brown. Quarter & rift sawn white oak produces boards that show straight striped grain and a distinctive ray and fleck figure.

Relative Abundance and Availability of Quarter & Rift Sawn White Oak

15.1 percent of total U.S. hardwoods commercially available. Readily available but not as available as red oak.

Working Properties of Quarter & Rift Sawn White Oak

machines well
nails and screws well although pre-boring is advised. Use galvanized nails because it reacts with iron
adhesive properties are variable, but stains to a good finish
can be stained with a wide range of finish tones
wood dries slowly

Machining
Nailing
Screwing
Gluing
Finishing

Physical Properties of Quarter & Rift Sawn White Oak

A hard and heavy wood with medium bending and crushing strength, low in stiffness, but very good in steam bending. Great wear-resistance.

Strength And Mechanical Properties (inch-pound) (a)
Moisture content	12%
Specific Gravity (b)	0.57-0.88
Static Bending Modulus of Rupture (lbf/in2)	7,200-18,400
Static Bending Modulus of Elasticity (c) (106 lbf/in2)	0.88-2.05
Static Bending Work to Maximum Load (in-lbf/in3)	9.4-19.2
Impact Bending to Grain (in)	50
Compression Parallel to Grain (lbf/in2)	3,290-8,900
Compression Perpendicular to Grain (lbf/in2)	530-2,840
Shear Parallel to Grain (lbf/in2)	1,210-2,660
Tension Perpendicular to Grain (lbf/in2)	940
Side Hardness (lbf)	1,620

a) Results of tests on small clear specimens in the green and air-dried conditions. Definition of properties; impact bending is height of drop that causes complete failure, using 0.71-kg (50 lb.) hammer; compression parallel to grain is also called maximum crushing strength; compression perpendicular to grain is fiber stress at proportional limit; shear is maximum shearing strength; tension is maximum tensile strength; and side hardness is hardness measured when load is perpendicular to grain.

b) Specific gravity is based on weight when oven dry and volume when green or at 12% moisture content.

c) Modulus of elasticity measured from a simply supported, center-loaded beam, on a span depth ratio of 14/1. To correct for shear reflection, the modulus can be increased by 10%.

Reprinted with permission from Hardwood Manufacturers Association

Custom Profiles

Radius Moulding