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Greenwood Log Splitting with Charlie Ryland and Robell Awake

Such a clean split! Thanks to their rich experience working with trees, greenwood chairmaking instructors Robell Awake and Charlie Ryland made sure that (despite some knots) this beautiful log will turn into chairs in about a week…

Here’s a few things we learned on the first full day of the epic saga that is making a greenwood chair:

  • Properly stored, a log can stay green for a year or more
  • Growth patterns like twisting or branches can make it difficult to follow the grain for splitting
  • In North Carolina, ring-porous hardwoods like oak and ash make the best logs (these logs are white and black oak)
  • Wider growth rings indicate stronger wood and are ideal
  • There’s a certain amount of guesswork involved— there are always surprises inside a tree!

Robell and Charlie are teaching their students to create a Poynor chair, a ladderback chair designed and popularized by Richard Poynor, a Black chairmaker, and his family in the 1800s.

Stay tuned for more…