the worst log I've had in ages

I should have known...

Just like the title says - lately I’m working my way through a bummer of an ash log. It’s like a penance - when the chance came recently to get a new ash log I hopped in the car directly. I barely looked at it - seemed nice & round & straight. And going by experience and expectation - I pictured myself later that day opening the log almost by just looking at it. I’ve used white ash for decades - often grows dead-straight. And so many times I’ve had ash logs that needed just a few wedges to open up the cleanest splits…might be the easiest splitting species I know. Except this one.

some you win, some you lose

When I drove the first wedge into the damn thing, the split immediately took a dramatic 60° turn. That’s when I knew I was in for a lot of work. And my visions of effortless chairmaking went poof! - instead a lot of hassling, grunting and heaving just to get the thing into pieces I could bring home. That section above is more than 6’ long. And it’s a mess.

But there’s still useable wood in it - I’m just spoiled from working perfect and near-perfect logs all the time. Working one like this means a few things. First is more work and aslo more waste. I have to rive the parts oversized and hew off the excess before shaving them. I love hewing - but rarely do it for chairmaking. This piece below is 36” long and about 2” square at one end. That’s a lot bigger than its finished dimension of 1 3/8” diameter. But I have to hew off those long fibrous strands that crossed from one side of the split to the other. It’s hard to see in this photo, but the end in the riving brake is much thinner than the near end. It also has some compressed grain - shows up as ripples. That sort of wood doesn’t shave as easily as perfectly bland straight grain. You can even see this in the growth rings on the end nearest the camera - a bit of a wave in the growth rings - instead of a perfect segment of an arc.