: I have never tried it so am probably completely clueless. Wouldn't splitting
: the green wood and then riving it to make the ribstock be the best way to
: go? You would have grain running end to end with no run-out and it seems
: that would be great for ribs. It would take a bit of time & effort to
: do but seems like it would give a better result than sawing across all
: that nice grain.

In this case, it is a bit like cracking a walnut, only this walnut is 18 inches wide!

The size of the log is what will make the initial split difficult. A bigger tree would be even more difficult to split.

Riving (a word I just learned -- I always called it "splitting it smaller") is certainly a good way to go once you get pieces of wood which are manageable, and you make or buy a froe. If you don't have a froe, it looks like a used (or new) lawn mower blade would work well if you welded, brazed or bolted a handle onto it.

The manner in which you reduce the log to pieces which are small enough to be rived seems not to be a critical thing. The log can be reduced to a workable size by sawing it, or splitting it. If you have the tools to saw it, then you'll probably get more even pieces and less waste, with far less effort.

Splitting, by the way, does not guarantee the grain will be the way you want it. Splitting can easily give you pieces which do not follow the growth rings, or any other reasonable pattern.

If you are dedicated to following the grain, you can do so with a bandsaw, too. Just pick the grain line you want to follow and go slowly.

PGJ