Grade & Milling Guide
To aid in the flooring selection process, we've broken out the various grades & saw methods with along with their pros and cons. Ranger Hardwoods offers live-sawn, plain-sawn, quarter-sawn, and rift-and-quartered flooring.
GRADING
Grading hardwood floors is based on the percentage of defect-free boards in a selection. Ranger offers the following grades:
- Clear -The “cleanest” possible grade of a hardwood floor. Little variation in color and exceptional average board length, no knots, sapwood, or other defects in the wood. Mostly made from the heartwood.
- Select - Usually contains a small amount of color. Minimal character markings, and average overall length. The most widely used grade.
- No. 1 Common - Color variation and character markings such as small knots and mineral streaks. Moderate color variation between sapwood and heartwood. Less average length per board.
- No. 2 Common - Significant manufacturing marks and character marks. Prominent color variation between sapwood and heartwood. Shorter overall lengths.
We also offer a full line of reclaimed and rustic flooring.
SAW METHODS (MILLING)
Quarter-sawn flooring: This cut is produced by quartering the log lengthwise, which results in growth rings which are at 90 degrees to the face of the board. This produces a straight, striped grain and creates distinctive ray and fleck patterns in red and white oak. This cut produces dimensionally stable flooring and is generally resistant to moisture fluctuations.
Rift-sawn flooring: Rift Sawn is cut in the same process as Quarter Sawn which creates the straight grain like the quarter sawn, but without the display of the medullary rays. It is a modern, clean appearance. Rift is defined when the annual growth rings are 30 to 60 degrees to the face of the board. Note where these boards are sourced from the diagram. It is very difficult to create wide plank rift only boards. Narrow Rift boards with the straight grain will almost blend together. Rift Sawn is a very stable flooring option.
Plain-sawn flooring: This is the most common type of milling in the United States, in which the board is cut and then the log is turned 90 degrees before being cut again. This involves cutting the lumber into parallel planks through the center, resulting in a beautiful cathedral graining pattern. Because the wood is cut tangential to the growth rings of the tree, this is not a very stable cut and may be prone to cupping when excessive moisture is present.
Live-sawn flooring: This type of flooring is produced when each plank is cut straight off of the log in a single direction. The orientation of the log is not changed when the planks are cut. Because of this, the flooring displays the full range of the log’s grain, including the iconic cathedral grain, and includes both heartwood and sapwood. Live-sawn floors include a mix of clear and natural grades and a variety of graining patterns. This milling technique is the most efficient and eco-friendly of the four because the entire log is utilized. Because at least a third of the planks making up live-sawn floors are quarter-sawn, this type of flooring is stable.
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: QUARTER / RIFT / PLAIN / LIVE
Rift-and-quartered flooring: This is the least common type of milling for hardwood floors because it produces a substantial amount of waste. The planks are milled perpendicular to the growth rings of the tree, which produces a straight grain pattern with no flecking. The log’s growth rings range from 30-60 degrees to the face of the board. These floors are rather expensive, but rift-and-quartered floors are the most dimensionally stable out of the four types of cuts.