Thanks everyone. Sasquatch I have to agree, we have lived here almost ten years now and love it. I cut the Chinaberry mostly as an experimental stave, to kinda get my feet wet. I do have one cedar on our place that appears to be straight and do intend to cut and split it at some point. Laid up at the moment, just had wrist surgery but once I'm healed and able to handle my chainsaw again I will cut it. Do you recommend cutting, peeling and splitting all at once on the cedar or should I wait a while to peel and split ? Most of our small place is cleared so not a lot of wood to choose from for me. I also have a few Hackberry trees along the fence lines. I really appreciate your help and will definitely be PMing questions along the way. Thanks Pappy, I think this ride has been long in coming but seems to be shaping up to be a lot of fun and of course a great learning experience.