Quartersawn:

Lumber sawn so that the annual rings form angles of 45 to 90 degrees with the surface of the piece.

Quarter Slicing:

This cut requires the larges diameter logs and produces straight grained veneers. The quarter slicing of oak can result in the appearance of flake.

Rabbet:

A rectangular cut in which two surfaces are cut on the edge of a member, parallel with the grain. Also, a Rebate.

Random Lengths (RL):

1. Lumber of various lengths, usually in even two-foot increments. Lumber offered as random length will contain a variety of lengths which can vary greatly between manufacturers and species. A random length loading is presumed to contain a fair representation of the lengths being produced by a specific manufacturer. 2. A service that regularly publishes information about wood products markets.

Random Width (RW):

Wood products of various widths. 1. Veneer clipped in various nonstandard widths, usually less than two feet wide. 2. Shingles or shakes that are manufactured and sold in various widths within a certain length, thickness, and grade. 3. Lumber, usually for factory or industrial uses, that is sold in random widths.

Redwood:

Sequoia sempervirens. This species is found only in limited areas of Northern California and Southern Oregon. It is resistant to decay and is used for many of the same purposes as Cedar, especially siding and paneling. Another species of Redwood, Sequoia gigantea, grows in the Sierra Mountains of Central California. It is protected from harvest.

Reverse Board & Batten:

A siding pattern in which the wider boards are nailed over the battens, producing a narrow inset.

Reversed Diamond:

This is usually done with straight grain veneer. A rectangle is divided into 4 quadrants. The grain direction is from the center point to the outside edge in each of the quadrants. The resulting appearance is that of a series of "V's" formed by the grain match at the joint line pointed in at the center point.

Ribbon Stripe:

The appearance is between broken stripe and plain stripe as a result of quarter slicing a log. It gives the general appearance of a ribbon sometimes slightly twisted.

Rift Cut:

This method is commonly used for Oak, and it can only be used on sizable logs. Produced by cutting at a slight angle to the radial to produce a quartered appearance without excessive flake. Rift cut veneer can easily be sequenced and matched.

Rip:

To saw a piece of lumber along its longitudinal axis.

Rope:

This results when the twist in the grain of broken stripe is all in once direction.

Rotary Peeling:

The log is turned in a circular motion against a knife peeling off a continuous thin sheet of wood veneer. This is the most economical method of producing veneer, resulting in the highest yield. The grain is inconsistent and leaves are most difficult to match. This type of veneer is best suited for paint grade or utility surfaces.

Rough Cut:

Irregular shaped areas of generally uneven corrugation on the surface of veneer, differing from the surrounding smooth veneer and occurring as the veneer is cut by the lathe or slicer.

Running Match:

The panel face is made from components running through the flitch consecutively. Any portion of a component left over from a face is used as the beginning component or leaf in starting the next panel.

S1S2E:

Surfaced one side and two edges.

S4S:

Surfaced four sides.

Sapwood:

The outer layers of growth between the bark and the heartwood which contain the sap. As additional layers of growth accumulate on the outer perimeter, the inner layers of the sapwood become heartwood. Sap is lighter in color and the differentiation in color and thickness of the sap layer varies considerably by species.

Saw Textured:

A texture put on a piece of siding or paneling by a saw or knurled drum to give it a textured, rough and/or resawn appearance.

Select Structural:

The highest grade of Structural Joists and Planks. This grade is applied to lumber of high quality in terms of appearance, strength, and stiffness.

Select Tight Knot (STK):

A grade term frequently used for cedar lumber. Lumber designated STK is selected from mill run for the tight knots in each piece, as differentiated from lumber which may contain loose knots or knotholes.

Shake:

1. A lengthwise grain separation between growth rings, or a break through the rings (radial shake), usually the result of high winds. Among the recognized types and degrees of shakes are: fine, slight, medium, open, cup, round, ring, shell, through, and pith. 2. Roofing material produced from wood (most often a cedar). Shakes have at least one surface with a natural grain-textured split surface.

Sheathing:

Plywood, waferboard, oriented strand board, or lumber used to close up side walls, floors, or roofs preparatory to the installation of finish materials on the surface. The sheathing grades are also commonly used for pallets, crates, and certain industrial products.

Shim:

1. A long, narrow repair of wood or suitable synthetic not more than 3/16-inch wide, used in replacing defects in plywood. 2. A piece of shingle or other small piece used as a wedge in construction.

Shiplap:

1. Lumber that has been worked to make a rabbeted joint on each edge so that pieces may be fitted together snugly for increased strength and stability. 2. A similiar pattern cut into plywood or other wood panels used as siding to assure a tight joint.

Sliced:

Veneer produced by thrusting a log or sawn flitch into a slicing machine which shears off the veneer in sheets.

Slip Matching:

Veneer leaves in a flitch are "slipped". Successive veneer leaves in a flitch are "slipped" one alongside the other and edge-glued in this manner. The result is a series of grain repeats, but no pairs. Sometimes a grain pattern "runs off" the edge of the leaf because the grain patterns are rarely perfectly straight. A series of leaves with this condition could make a panel look as though it is "leaning". In book matching the pairs balance each other.

Softwood:

Lumber or veneer produced from needle and/or cone bearing trees.

Solid Core:

1. The inner layer of a plywood panel which contain no open irregularities such as gaps or open knotholes, and whose grain runs perpendicular to the outer plies. Primarily used as underlayment for resilient floor covering. 2. A flush door containing particleboard or wood blocks to completely fill the area between the door skins; used in entries and as fire-resistant doors.

Solid Moulding:

A moulding produced from a single piece of wood, as distinguished from finger-jointed mouldings which are produced from two or more pieces of wood jointed together end to end.

Sound, Tight Knots:

Knots that are solid across their face and fixed by growth to retain their place.

Southern Yellow Pine:

A species group, composed primarily of Loblolly, Longleaf, Shortleaf, and Slash Pines. Various subspecies also are included in the group.

Species:

A distinct kind of wood.

Spliced Face Veneers:

Face veneers that have been joined together in any one of several matching effects through the careful factory process of tape less splicing.

Splits:

Separations of wood fiber running parallel to the grain.

Spruce-Pine-Fir (SPF):

Canadian woods of similiar characteristics that have been grouped for production and marketing. The SPF species have moderate strength, are worked easily, take paint readily, and hold nails well. They are white to pale yellow in color. The largest volume comes from Western Canada (British Columbia and Alberta) where the principal species in the group are: White Spruce, Engelmann Spruce, Lodgepole Pine, and Alpine Fir. The principal species in the group originating in Eastern Canada are: Red Spruce, Black Spruce, Jack Pine, and Balsam Fir. Some lumber production in the New England states also is marketed as Spruce-Pine-Fir and includes those species.

Streaks (Mineral):

Natural discolorations of the wood substance.

Stump Veneer:

This veneer is produced from the base of the tree. The grain pattern is always swirly twisted and often accompanied by cross fire and patches of burl. The sizes are normally small.

Sturd-I-Floor:

A trade name registered by the American Plywood Association for a panel designed specifically for use as combined subfloor/underlayment in residential floor applications. It is available in several thicknesses, each keyed to a recommended spacing of floor joists from 16 to 48 inches.

Texture 1-11:

A registered trade name of the American Plywood Association for siding panels with special surface treatment (such as saw textured), and having grooves spaced regularly across the face.

Tight Side:

A term applied to the concave side of knife-cut veneer which is in compression. The back or convex side often has slight ruptures and is called the loose side. The face of rotary cut veneers.

Tongue and Groove:

Lumber machined to have a groove on one side and a protruding tongue on the other, so that pieces will fit snugly together, with the tongue of one fitting into the groove of the other.

Twist:

A distortion in wood caused by the turning or winding of the edges of a board so that the four corners of any face are no longer in the same plane.