Hit the brake

 This shows splitting some ash for spindles, rails, etc..   One thing that can make ash tough to split is, ironically, the fact that it split so well.  What I mean by this is that it tends to just pop right apart, so the degree to which you can steer a split is somewhat limited.  By steering I mean usually you try to split parts in half, equal mass on both sides of the froe blade.  On an earlier post I talked about the froe, now more on the brake and how to split.  The brake is made of 2x12's and has holes drilled thru it to hold pipes, which in turn holds to pieces of wood.  I really helps, I'm not sure how you would do it otherwise.  Anyway, with the brake holding the piece, the froe goes to work splitting the wood.  What you always want to do is put the heavy side of the piece down, towards the ground, and pull down on the froe handle.  This will actually move the split, causing it to move towards the heavy side.  Watch the split as it progresses, and you may have to flip the piece a few time before the piece is rendered in two.  This process can take some getting used to, but once you get it, you can split pieces closer to the finished size, no more making spindles out of 2x4 sized pieces! 

 This happens often, and as I've said, you always want to split pieces with equal mass, so what to do. Well, what I do is to flatten one face with a drawknife, and then pencil some lines,  roughly in thirds in this case, then I rip the pieces on the bandsaw, carefully following the grain.  I have tried to split off one third, but haven't had much luck.  So I bandsaw them out, and then work them with the drawknife, carefully following the grain.  Try to split equal pieces, but when you can't, as long as you saw carefully, you can make spindles that are perfectly alright, and save wood in the process. 

One great thing about having a five year old, well, there are a lot, but one is that everything gets painted, everything!  Which is great, and, TADA!!! here is my splitting brake,  froe, and froe club.  I turned the club from a piece of horphobeam ( hornbeam) that Jeff Hemphill gave, the same guy who gave me the froe.  Never hit the froe with a metal hammer, you can break the blade, plus you'll mushroom the backedge.   So get some 2x12's, cobble up a brake, and get a froe and split some wood.  This simple act is critical to the strength of the chairs because the grain runs all the way from one end to the other.  Sawed lumber has grain runout, whereas split pieces are much stronger because the grain runs all the way.