Quartersawn vs. Flat Sawn White Oak plywood veneer paneling

[blueman]

I am putting up some wainscoating and a bench in our mud room that I intend to construct out of white oak (veneer plywood for the wainscoating and solid for the bench). The finish will be light stain and poly for protection.

White oak plywood is available in both "Quarter Sawn" and "Flat Sawn" with the Quarter Sawn costing 2x as much. I am willing to pay the extra money if the result is worthwhile but am not sure how noticeable this is in paneling having never used Quarter Sawn. Any pointers on the right way to do this?

Thanks

[Chris Friesen]

Quarter-sawn is more stable when exposed to moisture variations, and it will show a "ray fleck" pattern, while flat-sawn will not. You can google it to get an idea of what it looks like.

Which type of plywood you use depends on what look you're going for, and whether you plan on using quarter-sawn for the bench itself.

If you do go with quarter-sawn, you might want to consider a finish that will do it justice better than just stain and poly.

Chris

[B A R R Y]

Besides "ray flecks" quartersawn oak plywood normally has a straight grained figure. Like this:

Flat sawn looks more like this:

Both examples are red oak, as Google images found that first. White oak will be similar, but smoother and a more pronounce ray fleck.

I usually prefer QS or the "rift sawn" (straight lined) sections of flat sawn oak plywood, when I want the parts to have straight grain. Example uses might be for trim boards or plywood stiles and rails. I'll normally use wavy figured flat sawn plywood for simulated floating panels.

I've also built simulated frame and panel walls using QS throughout, which created a very different look.

The bottom line is that either can be "right", depending on the final look desired.

[Dave Hall]

When you say "flat sawn" does that really mean rotary sawn (i.e. peeled like most plywood veneer)? It makes a big difference in my opinion. Rotary sawn looks very fake as it appears to be a 4 foot board. Flat sawn and quarter sawn should "appear" to be a number of boards edge glued. I would pay more to not have that rotary look. As to quarter sawn, I would think that would look very nice (I like quarter sawn white oak) but as someone else has said it might depend on whether the bench will be made from quarter sawn. The difference between flat sawn and quarter sawn is quite noticeable - the difference between either and rotary sawn is even more noticable.

Dave Hall

[Greg G]

Pick the grain pattern you like the best. That is the primary difference. Dark stains tend to reduces the visible difference, but IMHO negates the use of oak. You might as well use cheap Luan.

Greg G.

[Swingman]

Very noticeable difference in plywood, more so than in "solid" lumber:

The panels of the two bottom doors, plus the two "sides" you can see in the back through the two top doors (where the glass is eventually going), is all quartersawn white oak plywood:

you want less of the typical quarter sawn medullary ray fleck appearance, but not the wild grain pattern of flatsawn, go with "rift sawn", as you see in these doors below:

[Robatoy]

Take a peek at these pages. Explained it all to me.

[blueman]

Based on the input and picture references, I am leaning towards quarter-sawn.

I am a novice at best in the world of finishing. What would you recommend that would "do it justice" while also giving it a hard and durable finish since the veneer is by definition thin and this will be used in our mudroom where things will get banged around?

(I had only mentioned poly because I figured that with several coats of satin, I could get it pretty hard but I am open to better solutions)

[Chris Friesen]

The basic idea is that the rays don't absorb colour as well as the regular grain, so most stains will tend to colour the regular grain and thus accentuate the rays. However, sometimes this makes the rays too prominent.

For a more authentic-looking Arts&Crafts finish, "Woodworking" magazine suggested the following:

1) power sand to 120 grit with a random orbit sander 2) hand sand to 150 grit 3) rag on Olympic Interior "Special Walnut" oil based stain, saturate the surface 4) let sit for 15 minutes, then wipe it off 5) the next day, rag on Watco "Dark Walnut" Danish oil, saturate the surface 6) let sit for 15 minutes, then wipe it off 7) next day, rag on one coat of Zinsser Bulls Eye amber shellac

For protection, you could put poly over top of this.

It does mean more time, effort, and expense, so it's up to you whether you think the effort is worth it.

Whatever you do, try it out on some scrap first to make sure you like the result.

Chris

[Swingman]

"blueman" wrote

For QSWO, my current choice: 1 coat of Rockler "Mission Oak" gel stain:

by multiple (your choice regarding number) coats of amber shellac (Zinser BullsEye, available at most Borgs, is fine).

Shellac is one of the easiest finishes to apply and repair, and multiple coats can be very durable for the intended use, IME.

YMMV ...