I'm sure we've all felt a connection
with the carpenter who built the
house we're renovating. A chalked
date or tool marks are the most
evident signs. When I'm looking over
a house, I often catch myself wondering
what that carpenter had in mind
when he cut a board a certain way or
selected one piece of wood over
another. I've noticed that carpenters
on these houses often put "verticalgrain"
wood on surfaces that take a
beating.
Vertical Grain vs. Flat-Sawn
Most common lumber is "flat-sawn"
from the log. On the end grain you
see the characteristic curving annual
rings roughly parallel to the face of
the board. "Vertical-grain" wood
(sometimes called "edge-grain") is
"riff-cut," or "quarter-sawn," from the
log. This