In the days before sawmills, logs were turned into lumber by riving. This means splitting wood along the grain using hammers and wedges. Wood processed in this way is called cleft stock and is considered the superior material for any application that requires extreme strength because it gives material that follows perfectly the grain of the wood. It is also a pleasure to carve and plane. We will spend a day reducing an ash log into useful pieces of wood and roughing out blanks for students' future projects. Some excellent uses of the wood are axe and hammer handles, chair parts (spindles, back and legs), wooden spoons, canoe gunwales or possibly even a small bow.