Anyway, back to converting timber by hand.
The logs get bucked into the desired lengths with the chainsaw. Mostly I go for 6' lengths for stock, as I can make muntins for wainscott panels with that and most furniture uses lengths shorter than that, so its a good compromise.
This one's 4' for the chest components.
So I start off with a maul and some iron and plastic wedges, you can use timber wedges too if you want.
Starting at the butt where the splits normally are (you can see them in the earlier photos where the stem has started to split into quarters from sitting in the wind), drive the wedges in and split the piece in half along its length.
This one sat over the summer and some mycelium has caused the dark staining, I don't worry about this, as it will die when the timber dries down below 18% which is classed as air dry.
Note where the split has gone wiggly along the pith in the center. This is from the sapling moving around as it grows upwards. The fibres in that middle portion are quite sloping and brittle and it gets chopped off as waste later.
I use the axe to cut any fibers which don't separate with the wedges. The two pieces will just fall apart when they are cut.
You can also see where the butt flares out at the near end, on the left, and starts to form the buttresses which support the tree and brace it against the wind.
This one didn't split exactly into quaters and the pieces vary in size. I can use this size difference when I'm selecting pieces to use for joinery.
Continue splitting each piece in half into eigths and sixteenths depending on the thickness of the section required. I wanted nominal 1" thick pieces so I went down to 16ths. If you want thicker for 2" legs, stop at eigths.
For misericords you want to stop at quarters, that's why they are that shape. Take a look next Sunday and you'll find they are invariably quarters from riven stock with medullary rays on the seat part.
Take a look at the end of this where the broken off branch is and see how the fibers grow around it like water flowing around a rock in a river. That's why you want to avoid bumps in the bark when you choose the log, stuff like this is hidden inside and it affects the end product greatly so it needs splitting off.
That's about it for converting the timber and it's then to the stump to start the work of the broad axe and square the section before planing.
Check out the orientation of the annual rings and straightness of the grain, that's quality timber right there, and for very little money too.
You can't really see the medullary rays on this piece, as it's still very wet, so I'll talk a little about that next time when I make a panel with the froe and beetle on a brake.
It's got its own language too, full of strange and wonderful forgotten words and for me that all adds to the richness of the experience.
