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Old 02-26-2019, 02:42 PM
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Bruce Sexauer Bruce Sexauer is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Petaluma, CA, USA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TomB'sox View Post
Hey Bruce,

So with the figure now so prominent on the back, I have a question. Knowing your set is perfectly quartersawn, when we see the "typical" tree tortoise shell appearance (I think that is what it is labeled), does that mean that pattern always indicate flat sawn?
I feel like I just addressed this, but perhaps that was on facebook?

The "Tortoise" figure is a type of quilt, which in the case of the "Tree" has an interesting line running around the quilt blisters giving them additional definition. There are several other notable figures in the available "Tree", the most common seems to be what is called "Sausage Quilt". All of these quilt figures have in common that the closer to absolutely flat-sawn the wood, the more quilted the figure appears. When the same wood is quarter-sawn, the figure appears to be lumpily flamed, as the set I am currently building does. While by no means as jaw dropping as the Tortoise quilt that this wood may well be if view from 90 degrees to the cut it is, this wood is none the less quite stunningly figured. It will have the advantages that any quarter-sawn wood has where strength and stability are concerned.

Similar to the way that medulary display is the hallmark of quarter-sawn wood, quilt is a hallmark of flat-sawn wood. The difference being that while each is unique to the respective cut, Medulary is virtually always present, whereas Quilted figure is quite unusual. Quilt figure is relatively common in Big Leaf Maple, and occasionally appears in other trees as well. I have seen Quilt figure in other mahogany trees, but to a degree that is pale in comparison to the true "Tree", which the press continues to claim is unique in the history of mahogany, so far undisputed to the best of my knowledge.
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