8/4 Maple Quartersawn Lumber: 6 Reasons It’s RARE!

8/4 Quartersawn Maple: 8/4 Maple Hardwood Lumber

The 3 primary species of commercially sawn lumber 8/4 Maple are:

1. Hard Maple (acer saccharum), sometimes referred to as Sugar Maple, Rock Maple or White Hard Maple.
2. Red Maple (acer rubrum) , also known as Red Leaf Maple, Soft Maple,  or Eastern Soft Maple 
3. Big Leaf Maple (acer macrophyllum) 

Typically, all of these maple species are plain-sawn at the sawmill level, rather than quarter-sawn or rift sawn. 

Why Is 8/4 Maple Rift/Quartersawn Hard To Find?

8/4 Quartersawn Maple lumber is rarely offered by hardwood lumber companies.  

Specifically, there are 6 reasons why 8/4 Maple is rare in quarter-sawn grain orientation. This is especially true with the supply chain issues of 2023. 

1. Maple logs are in short supply, generally speaking.
2. Quarter-sawing logs is less efficient than plain-sawing logs. Accordingly, it is a more expensive process. 
3. With limited markets for heartwood maple (brown color),  quarter-sawing for all-sapwood white maple tends to yield narrow width boards.
4. Lumber 8/4 Maple is takes longer to kiln dry than 4/4, 5/4 or 6/4 maple lumber. This also adds to the final cost.
5. Because of heartwood/sapwood considerations, thicker maple is difficult to saw well.  For example, pristine white 2 face maple is expensive. However, if the sawyer cuts 8/4 boards with some heartwood only 1/8″ deep on of one faces, the entire 8/4 Maple board devalues. Essentially, all of the extra effort results in a heart one face Maple board, due to a small miscalculation by the sawyer.    
6. Even when the board is perfectly sawn, 8/4 thick maple is easy to ruin during the kiln drying process.  This is often due to honeycomb or other lumber kiln-related defects.

Taking all 6 reasons why 8/4 Quartersawn Maple is rare into consideration, it’s obvious why mills often choose to produce 4/4, 5/4 or 6/4 Maple instead! It’s easier, less expensive and less risky to produce.

8/4 QS Maple Lumber For Sale in Fontana?

As far as I’m aware, we are the only lumber company selling 8/4 Quartersawn White Hard Maple lumber in Southern California.  It’s not always available at our warehouse either. However, when we find a nice run of slow growth, large maple logs we look to saw them for 8/4 thickness.  It’s nice to have them when woodworkers need them!