Plaining Saw Logs into Lumber
George VondriskaDescription
Master woodworker George Vondriska uses a backyard saw mill to see logs into lumber plain. A WoodWorkers Guild of America (WWGOA) original video.
About the easiest way to get a log like this converted into lumber we can use in the shop is what's called plain sawing. It's also called through and through. That's really a very simple way to get lumber out of this log. Here at the sawmill today, I'm gonna be able to show you exactly how we plain saw wood from a log. Now, let me sketch it out first. Like I said, it really very simple. Plain sawing is just a matter of making a bunch of cuts like this. Each of these then is gonna become a board that we can later use in the shop. So I'll get a little bit more set up done here on the sawmill, fire it up, show you how we can get these planks outta the log. Now, to plain saw the rest of this board, we just keep taking slabs off of it, cutting all the way through. You can see what the grain is providing here. Typically in plain sawn wood, we get these big flame patterns or cathedrals like you can see in this one. So plain sawing is pretty simple, and it's a very easy way, and that means inexpensive, to get planks outta logs.
NB Can you cut smaller logs on a band saw and with what blade? Should the log be air dry? EEE Thank you
What type of saw set up is that? I have only seen alaskan mill set ups that use a rail on the log for the first cut and the previous cut surface for the remaining cuts. A knowledgeable comparison of plain sawn and quarter saw would be fantastic!