Re: 980922 MMDigest

"Sawed" vs. "sawn": Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 1980, gives
both.  So the issue here is usage. Amongst violin and viola da gamba
luthiers, I have always encountered "quarter-sawn" as the term for that
particular method of cutting wood to attain the desired grain flow.

I believe "sawn" is grammatically the more correct. This is a
past-participle construction, quarter-sawn wood, that is, "wood that
_has_ _been_ _sawn_ in quarters." Fowler, in _A Dictionary of Modern
English Usage_, 2nd ed., under "saw," says "has p.p. _sawn_, rarely
_sawed_.

But I would defer to a luthier; in building instruments he buys such
wood for a living. Usage within the trade is paramount here.

Michael J. Babcock