I also thought quarter sawn had those shimmery flecks and rift cut was more of a straight grain like the center of the door.

Me too kalapointer. I can't tell if that center panel is plain sawn or rift sawn either. And I think the center panel might even be red oak. I thought I knew the look of the three types of cuts but now I'm not sure at all! I'm feeling quite confused right now!

I can't find good photos of rift sawn oak that look like my sample but I did find this discussion http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Quality_Issues_with.html. The woodworkers on that forum say that rift oak can show these flecks and that QS flecks are more pronounced. So far, it seems that I do have rift white oak.

Any other opinions out there?

This looks like rift and quartered oak.

I think you're right wolfgang. Side rails look like rift and top and bottom look like quarter sawn.

You can never tell unless you can see the end grain. It can be perfectly QS and still not have very nice rays.

Thanks for pointing that out Sombreuil! I did some Googling and found this http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-to/video/the-basics-of-flatsawn-riftsawn-and-quartersawn-wood.aspx. I can't see the end grain of the top and bottom rails but can see the side rails. The grain is at about a 20° angle so I think it must be rift sawn.

Me too The Kitchen Place! I'm just connecting the dots now as I look at your diagram - rift can be just the outer planks of QS cuts. I haven't seen images of rift oak that show any flecks at all. But everything I'm reading says it can contain these flecks.

I just had a rift and quarter sawn mix floor installed. There's a lot of rift pieces that I thought were quarter and vice versa. My builder could tell better than me which was which and could show me the angle of the grain on the end to show for sure.

Oak is tricky, I think. I have several logs I need to have milled (don't worry, I hugged them before they came down). I've asked several mills about quarter sawing them and they say you don't know if the wood will have rays until you start sawing.

Hrm. That picture isn't what I normally think of when I think of rift.

I think of this:

See Rift sawing.