a new log

28” at this end, 26” at the other end, 12’ long

After that hideous disaster of an ash log, I lucked out and got a very nice 12’ long red oak log this week. Rick McKee https://www.instagram.com/medullary_rick/?hl=en and I went & split the first half of it the other day. Black oak, technically Quercus velutina which I first learned as “yellow bark.” You’ll see why it has that name -

yellow bark

Now I’m in the process of breaking down a bunch of it - sorting into these parts and those parts. This log had some interesting growth patterns - sometimes fast, sometimes slow. Depending on what I want to make - I might want fast-grown oak or slow-grown. Here’s offcuts from two pieces of stock I prepped yesterday - on the left, a 1 3/8” square blank from which I shaved a rear post to a Jennie Alexander-style ladderback chair. On the right - a 2” square section of a stile for a 17th-century style joined stool. 36 growth rings in the 2” blank, 7 in the other.

fast and slow