Riff sawn versus quarter sawn

[Sunfish1909]

Any disadvantages to using riff sawn ash for a plank? Quarter sawn board the end grain runs almost perpendicular to the faces. Riff sawn is more like 30 to 45 degrees.

[Bob Gray]

  I've made a good many planks and I can't really say that I've ever had any quarter sawn ash. The grain in ash is so squirrley it's hard to saw what the grain is. I have never had a failure using regular ash. I like to use strips 2" or less wide and reverse the ends on every other strip to keep warping to a minimum.

[Ken Smith]

I strip built a plank a few years ago, and started with fairly flat grain, so the strips were nearly quarter sawn.  I had grain run-out, meaning the major grain was angled to a few strips and entered and left the strip in a span of less than ten inches.

The first day of use, in a fairly stiff breeze, I heard a bang, but everything felt fine, so I kept sailing.  Later I found the strip failed in tension along one of the wandering grain lines.  This strip was the one closest to the leading edge.  I used 3/8 x 5/4 thick strips and a pine core.  And got zero plank life because of grain selection.

So choose wisely.  You are the wood grader.