Lots of small wedges tame a big log. McCurdy uses both wooden and steel wedges. The wooden ones, made from elm, are "grippier," he says, but they don't last as long as the steel ones. The first split is the most difficult, because it's the longest. If it splits cleanly, you know you have a good log.
The raw material for Adrian McCurdy’s riven oak furniture (see the backcover of FWW#223) is whole log sections. Delivered by crane truck to his backyard workspace in Scotland, the pieces are typically about 4 ft. long and 4 ft. in diameter. McCurdy splits, or rives, along the medullary rays, producing planks with spectacular ray fleck on both faces. He smoothes the split pieces but usually doesn’t flatten them, preferring to retain the irregularities of the riving process in his furniture. To join unflattened planks—especially in case pieces—requires extensive scribing, a skill McCurdy learned while building reproductions of centuries-old timberframe buildings.
Even triangles. The splits tend to go straight when there is an even amount of wood on both sides of the riving line.
Rive along the rays. McCurdy darkens the medullary rays—which are often curved, not true radii—with a marker and splits along the line. He sometimes scores the line with a circular saw or the tip of a chainsaw. He uses a stave to widen the splits, but leaves some fibers connected to keep the log intact and self-supporting until all the riving is finished.
An adze produces a slightly scalloped surface. To prepare the top surface of some of his benches and stools, McCurdy uses an adze, creating a field of shallow scoops that reflect the light and feel good to the touch.
Some planks get the spokeshave. After riving, McCurdy sometimes uses a wooden spokeshave to smooth planks. Then he stacks them in a shed for several years of air drying. The spokeshaving is easier while the wood is green, but he does some when the pieces are dry, too.
Riving legs is an adventure. The wood must be split both along the medullary rays and perpendicular to them. Some logs split on a straight line, others follow a curve. McCurdy used a drawknife to fine-tune these riven legs.
Photos by Adrian McCurdy.
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