
How Tree Trunks Are Cut to Produce Wood with Different Appearances and Uses - bentaber
https://www.archdaily.com/894449/how-tree-trunks-are-cut-to-produce-wood-with-different-appearances-and-uses
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wahern
If you shop at Home Depot or Lowes the only cut you'll find are from flat sawn
logs.[1] Even at lumber yards most will be cut this way.

Because I don't have a planer, and don't want to spend megabucks on furniture-
grade hardwood for my learner projects, I have to spend a considerable amount
of time picking through pieces, whether dimensional construction lumber or
squared project pieces, checking the grain to find those pieces cut near the
middle, but not directly through the core. And then of course checking that
it's not otherwise too warped or twisted. See

    
    
      https://wortheffort.com/wordpress/archives/142
    

I think the only places you'll find lumber cut using those other patterns are
lumber yards selling high quality lumber for furniture or architectural
pieces, often sourcing from boutique mills. Or places selling reclaimed lumber
from the days when lumber was harvested from old growth forests and it was
cost effective to setup a large mill using different patterns. The trees from
modern farms don't get big enough to use the other patterns; at scale the only
cost effective method is flat sawn and letting downstream purchasers sort
through the mess.

[1] The exception may be the poplar and oak project boards, but they're so
expensive at the big box stores I don't even bother looking. I think poplar is
pretty stable so they're probably flat sawn, too.

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AngryData
I have to get my project wood from a small local mill, I can get it cut any
way I want, the downside is I can't just pick a few boards of different types
out of a stockpile like a hardwood supplier. But it is cheap enough that I can
buy it an entire tree's worth at a time and keep a decent stock going. The
prices for a hardwood board at a normal lumber store are absolutely criminal
so it is worth it a dozen times over to get it from a mill or drive to a
hardwood supplier's warehouse. Plus with a mill you can bring them any tree
you want cut up, I got a few black walnut trees that will probably get me a
decades worth of material for next to nothing.

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orbifold
I know a physicist, who now works for the world-leading saw-mill manufacturer
applying machine learning to this problem...

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lumberingjack
Ha HA that's my job.

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executesorder66
I'm curious, how did you discover HN?

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GuB-42
That's fitting for a woodworker to come in a forum called "hacker news". After
all, they are the original hackers.

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Double_a_92
Why do sites have to hijack my scrolling wheel? Seriously who thinks that's a
good idea?

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Cyphase
What do you mean? I don't see any scroll wheel hijacking.

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Double_a_92
Scrolling is slowed down for me. I.e. I have to scroll 10 times as much as
usual.

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amelius
Why drawings, and no photos?

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snarfybarfy
I wonder if those wood cutters ever talked to Sir Roger Penrose. I have the
feeling there is room for some optimizations.

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totoglazer
I'm curious why you think that. It's all these mills do all day, for thousands
of years. Reducing waste by more efficient cuts is literally free profit,
which is why they've had automatic scanners and optimized for years[1, 2000].

I've done a little woodworking, but it's enough to realize that wood is
complicated and tricky and there are definitely pros & cons to the various
cuts. I'm sure if they could get more high quality cuts from a given log they
would - it is more valuable down stream.

[1] [https://www.vision-
systems.com/articles/print/volume-5/issue...](https://www.vision-
systems.com/articles/print/volume-5/issue-11/features/timber-analysis/machine-
vision-analyzes-lumber.html)

~~~
cotillion
Modern mills are impressive! SCA Tunadal does 200 meters logs per minute. With
multiple laser/xray scanners for optimal cuts.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y81eWz2YqZM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y81eWz2YqZM)

