Wood Grade/Cuts
Besides the unique look of each species of wood, the appearance of your hardwood floor is also determined by the grade and cut of wood. Wood Grade refers to how much (or how little) of the natural characteristics of real hardwood flooring such as knots, wood tone variation, mineral streaks, etc appear in your floor. The cut of the wood is determined by the angle at which a board is cut from the log.Besides the unique look of each species of wood, the appearance of your hardwood floor is also determined by the grade and cut of wood. Wood Grade refers to how much (or how little) of the natural characteristics of real hardwood flooring such as knots, wood tone variation, mineral streaks, etc appear in your floor. The cut of the wood is determined by the angle at which a board is cut from the log.
NWFA/NOFMA Wood Grades
Grades range from a Clear Grade that is very uniform to a Rustic Grade grade that contains a beautiful array of character. The photos below are examples of the 4 basic grades of White Oak as defined by the National Wood Floor Association.
Clear grade
Select Grade
1 Common Grade
2 Common Grade
Heidelberg Flooring's Higher Standards for Walnut Grades
However, these hardwood floor grading standards were created when 4" was considered wide plank flooring and strip flooring dominated the market. Also, their short length allowance is way too short because nobody wants a bunch of 1-3’ long pieces in their wide plank floor.
So, we developed a higher standard of grading and milling to ensure that our products are better than anything else in the industry.
Heidelberg Wood Flooring's Higher Standards for Milling and Grading Specification Sheets
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PDF: Solid Plank, Engineered Plank
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Page Link. Solid Plank, Engineered Plank
LInks for NWFA/NOFMA Standards Milling and Grading
Simplified Grades
For many of our Pre-Finished Hardwood Flooring Products, you will notice that we simplified the grades into two categories, Premium and Natural.
Prime/Premium Grade: A combination of NWFA Clear and Select Grade. Premium Grade has overall consistent coloring with a minimal amount of wood tone variation and minimal sound character marks that blend in with overall tone.
Rustic/Natural Grade: A combination of NWFA 1 common, 2 common, and Select. Your floor will contain a variety of wood tones, unique grain patterns, knots (only knots and open character which will readily fill are allowed), mineral streaks, occasional worm holes, and other sound character marks that make up the contrasts Mother Nature intended.
Wood Cuts
The type of wood cut is determined by the angle at which a board is cut from the log. There are three cuts of wood: Plain sawn (AKA Flat sawn), Quarter sawn, and Rift Sawn and each cut produces a board of a different appearance and quality.

*The unique trait of quarter sawn boards is the ray flecks.
Ray flecks appear in flooring that cuts across the wood’s ray cells, which creates a shimmering flake figure spread over the wood.
Quartersaw Demonstration
The following video is a great demonstration of the Quartersawn process created by a fellow Hoosier company called Frank Miller Lumber Co.