Thanks for jumping in both of you guys!!

Jim That is what I would expect your advice would be but I needed to hear it from an expert in the field.
I expect then as you saw it down in size when it reaches the heart area of the log then that part would be put to some other good use.

Is quarter sawing similar as far as getting the best out of the log?

The old Muley mill that I am familiar with could produce generally just straight sawn lumber, and then you would sort through the sawn boards for the better quality ones, and then cut out areas from them that held the good quality material.
Good logs without knots (usually the butt logs) we would saw for the cabinet maker,without squaring, in this way we would come up with some pretty nice wide boards that contained more of the outer quality lumber which would have been lost in the squaring process, these boards then would be stored and air dried for 2 to 3 years under cover.

I realize that with the modern sawn rigs flipping the logs during the sawing process is not a big problem, just a pain in the neck.

I was wondering Jim though about quartering the log, and then sawing the quarters, is there any advantage in doing this extra work quality wise?

Also what about Timbeals solution of diamond cutting, I never heard of it before, would you like to comment on it

thanks again I am sure from everyone looking in

NH