Cuts & Grades

Understand Hardwood Cuts and Grades to Choose Your Perfect Floor

Allegheny Mountain Hardwood Flooring (AMHF) and Hickman Lumber are known worldwide for their rift & quarter-sawn and live Sawn. They have the highest industry standards in the cuts and grades of their wood floors. Understanding these cuts will help you find the best floor to fit the look and needs of your home.

Many sawmills and manufacturers do not cut or understand rift & quarter or live sawn. The Hickman family has specialized in these cuts for many years, so Wood Floor Business Magazine asked Jessica Hickman to write an article explaining the difference.

Circle Saw Soft Maple
Quarter Sawn Logs Resaw

Cutting Methods

How the log is cut at the sawmill determines the direction of the annual growth rings in relation to the face of the board. These various cuts change the visual grain pattern and affect the dimensional stability of each board. The advantage of rift & quarter sawn, other than how cool it looks, is its dimensional stability over plain sawn.

Most sawmills cut plain sawn. This is the fastest way to cut logs and the quickest to dry. Hickman Lumber has specialized in rift & quarter sawn (R&Q) since the 1980s. Rift-sawn differs from quarter-sawn, but they are both a result of the same method of cutting the log. The difference is the degree to which the growth rings intersect with the face of the board (see drawings below). Often, boards feature a combination of the R&Q characteristics, as trees do not grow perfectly straight. Logs too small to quarter saw are cut in the live sawn method, creating a unique and beautiful mix of plain sawn and R&Q in each board.

The diagram below shows the growth rings in the rift & quartered are perpendicular to the board face, and in the plain-sawn, the growth rings are parallel to the board face. Wood is hygroscopic. Therefore,  wood can move with humidity and temperature changes.  The wood will move depending on the direction of the growth rings.  For instance, with dramatic environmental changes, a PS floor will be more likely to cup and gap due to movement across the board’s width. The potential movement in R&Q is in the board’s thickness which is very minimal. The stability of the R&Q and live-sawn, due to the high percentage of rift & quarter-sawn, allow you to install solid, wide plank flooring over radiant heat and in homes with more potential for environmental changes (live-sawn has a high percentage of rift and quarter grain).

AMHF-Quarter Sawn

Quarter Sawn

Quarter Sawn wood has straight grain and visually displays the figure from the medullary rays, or fleck, in the face of the board. This floor was very popular in homes built in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It is defined when the annual growth rings are 60 to 90 degrees to the face of the board. This is the most stable board, as environmental changes will be in the thickness of the board, not across the width. AMHF offers 100% quartered only, where every board will display this quartered figure.

AMHF Rift Sawn

Rift Sawn

Rift Sawn is cut in the same process as Quarter Sawn which creates the straight grain like the quarter sawn, but without the display of the medullary rays. It is a modern, clean appearance. Rift is defined when the annual growth rings are 30 to 60 degrees to the face of the board. Note where these boards are sourced from the diagram. It is very difficult to create wide plank rift only boards. Narrow Rift boards with the straight grain will almost blend together. Rift Sawn is a very stable flooring option.

AMHF Plain Sawn Cutting Diagram

Plain Sawn

Plain Sawn (PS), also commonly called flat sawn, is the most common lumber you will find. The face of the board will show the cathedral growth rings. This is the most inexpensive way to manufacture logs into lumber and became the dominate oak flooring from the 1940s until today. It is defined when the annual growth rings are 0 – 30 degrees to the face of the board. This creates a board that will expand or contract across with width of the board (tangentially) with environmental changes.

AMHF Live Sawn Cutting Diagram

Live Sawn

Live Sawn is a result of straight cutting through the smaller logs. They will display a mix of plain sawn and rift & quarter sawn characteristics throughout each board. Allegheny live sawn is unique because there is a high percentage of R&Q. This is very important as we can create solid wide plank boards that are more dimensionally stable than traditional plain sawn boards. This flooring cut is one of our most popular due to the stability, long lengths, the economical price, and beautiful natural characteristics.

Red Oak Plain Sawn S&B vs Red Oak Rift & Quarter Sawn S&B

Red Oak Plain Sawn S&B vs Red Oak Rift & Quarter Sawn S&B

Rift Only Clear Red Oak - AMHF Hickmanwoods

Rift Only Clear Red Oak - AMHF Hickmanwoods

The Allegheny Difference

Allegheny Mountain Hardwood Flooring can provide 100% Rift and 100% Quartered Only. The industry rule book (NOFMA / NWFA) only requirement for Quarter Sawn is to have only 50% quartered figure.

Rift Sawn can be considered rift if only 75% of the board has rift characteristics. For example, if you order a 5” Rift Only white oak from a company that grades its flooring according to the industry rule book, you could have over 1” of plain sawn or 25% of quartered figure on each board. At Allegheny Mountain, we set a higher quality standard and offer 100%.

Allegheny Grading Definitions

The grading scale measures the natural variations and characteristics throughout the floor. These include color variation from board to board, mineral streaks, sapwood, and the presence of knots, open checks or wormholes. No grade is necessarily better than the other; grading is just a way to qualify the appearance. Each of our grades has the same length options and high-quality milling.

Flooring Grades

Rift & Quarter Sawn are available in these various grade options. Live Sawn is only offered in a natural grade.

RQ-WO-Clear-Grade

Allegheny Clear Grade

This is our cleanest, most perfect grade.   Mostly heartwood flooring that allows subtle natural heartwood color variations. This grade will be free of knots and sapwood. Clear grade has a very formal and elegant appearance.  This is cleaner than a Select & Better (S&B).

White Oak - Rift & Quarter Sawn, Select Grade

Allegheny Select Grade

This is slightly lower grade than the clear. It will include all the variations in coloration produced by the contrasting differences of heartwood and sapwood. May include very small pin knots, but in general minimal to no character marks and knots.

RQ-WO-Natural-Grade

Allegheny Natural Grade

This is a character grade with color variation due to contrast in heartwood and sapwood, along with natural variations, including sound knots, including open knots and checks, worm holes, and mineral streaks, #2 common and better. This is a tasteful floor displaying the tree’s natural beauty.