Benefits of Sequence Cut Boards

You may have heard woodworkers refer to sequence cut material and how cool it can be. What does that mean? In this video George has two amazing pieces of maple in his shop, fresh off the sawmill, and they’re perfect examples of sequence cut boards, and the benefits they can bring to your projects. Once you see how cool this is, you’re going to start keeping your ear to the ground, looking for the opportunity to bring sequence cut boards into your shop.

More on sawing and sawmills

Once you know how cool sequence cuts boards are, you may want to start cutting your own lumber. You can do this on a bandsaw. Our video on using your bandsaw to cut logs will show you how to do this in your own shop. You should also look at our video on cutting lumber from logs to learn about using a sawmill.

Learning about lumber

Want to know about other options for project material? Be sure to look at the great videos and articles that Woodworkers Guild of America has on understanding wood. From solid wood to man made products, you’ll find lots of great info.

Shop tips

Now that you’ve got your material choices nailed down, be sure to check out our other shop tips. They’re sure to help you be successful with your projects.

2 Responses to “Benefits of Sequence Cut Boards”

1. Ray Randall January 18th, 2019

   What are the dimensions right now of the wet boards and if used in a table, What do you think the dimension will be of the resulting finished top after dried and processed if you try to save as much as possible?

   Reply

   • Customer Service January 24th, 2019

     Hi Ray. This is a tricky one to answer. There are a few variables;
     – moisture level of the tree when it is cut. The higher the initial moisture, the more it will shrink- how much does that species shrink when it dries- where in the tree was a particular board taken from. Boards in middle will shrink less than boards on the top or bottom of the stack.- how much sap would, will you allow in your project? If you remove all the sap wood, you will get less yield.- how straight in the trunk? The straighter the trunk, the more it will yield.- How long are the pieces you will be cutting? If the trunk isn’t straight, then the shorter the pieces the better the yield you will get.
     With all of those variables in mind, I don’t have a very good answer for you. But, here is a wild guess. I’d say that, on average, for a board that is cut soaking week at 12″ wide, after it dries/shrinks, and I rip/joint each edge, using as much wood as possible including sap wood, I would guess that I would have about 10-1/2″ of usable lumber.
     Thanks
     Paul-WWGOA

     Reply