For quartersawn look at the end grain. A quartersawn board will have
the rings perpendicular to the face or very close to perp. This is
where it gets its stability. Even when they just cut up a log willy
nilly, some of it will end up QS.

On Mar 24, 3:02*pm, wrote:
You mention the different cuts, Karl. *When I see them drawn in magazines, I
understand the difference among rift-, quarter-, and plain-sawn...but damned
if I ever could tell by looking at an actual piece of wood. * Maybe it's
just that I've only "played at" woodworking *off and off *for 30 years....

Although....thinking about it, I *do* see that the oak in front of me has
those weird spots ("pickling"?) only on the "edge" *and when I make banding
I prefer to put the "face" out front of the plywood shelf.

john