Re: now I have no excuse . . .
ThomD
>I am also jealous. I know where there is tons of beech, but I have so far not managed to get any.
I wouldn't split kiln dried wood if I could avoid it. It may be fairly well cooked.
I have done a fair amount of both green woodworking and milling. It is a rare tree that makes it for riven stock. I'm sure this varies depending on locale, but to keep it in perspective the green woodworker types normally recomend that the wood be "veneer qaulity". I have been lumbering for over 30 years, and I have quite possibly never seen such a log. I have lots of nice wood that is great quality in furniture but getting one that splits perfectly is another quantum leap. The absence of that kind of wood reaches deep into our heritage and is responsible for the replacement of different forms of tools etc...
Just to be clear on this last point, veneer quality is so you can get al the wood in the log converted into parts. Like if you have to bust a tree into quarters, and then rive the remainder you don't want to get just two legs and some kindling. Particularly if you paid cash. For me I don't care, all the other stuff gets turned into firewood. So in one sense you need even better wood today than in the past because people are paying cah and expecting high yields.
Also if your board was sawn, even if it looks nicely straight, it may split askew. Partly, because trees taper, and and end up being sawn into straight crossgrain bits, and also because boards aren't logs and you are way out of sequence. Like imagine how you split violin tops out of a tree: Get a section and devide halves until you get pie slices that are the right size, then pair them up in book matched sets. Try doing that with a board. How do you split that into equal halve etc.. it depends on how it was sawn and whether it's radial or what.
If that was my log, and I knew for sure exactly what I wanted it for, because that does tend to change... for instnace you think you want all jointers but end up wanting molding planes when you are several years more down the line. Anyway. I would cut the ends off and remove all or most of the checks (not if they run 18" and you have useable sections between, I am assuming they are modest). I would crosscut it until the material did not continued to break at the checks. I would coat the ends with sealer, or epoxy paint.
Then I would cut off some lengths that were suitable for my intended projects. and I would rip those into 1/2 inch oversided pieces of stock, maybe more for really long pieces, and imediately coat the ends. Keep working like this until you have all your pieces for plane stock. Seal the ends with really good stuff. and leave the sides to breath.
I had some wet maple and it was in 4x4 squares for planes, and it only took about a year to dry, regardless of the 1 year per inch rule. I find wood generally does dry a little faster. Just keep it cool and dry, and try to forget about it.