Welcome aboard. What kind of wood you workin with over there?
In the northern parts where i live we dont have much to choose from,birch and sorbus aucuparia(dont know what you call it small paired leafs,whitish flowers and red berries in klusters at fall)and hackberry if lucky to find one, thats basicly it if you want to gather it by your self
in the southern parts we have Hazel,ash,elm,oak,european hornbeam and most fruittrees.But the one that exploded on me was from a oakboard that was the backrest on a bench at the university here for atleast 40 years
so besides it having more runoffs than not it was probably dry as bone.
But it was what i had and i wanted to get the feel for the methods and tools,now i work with a birch stave as practice before i start with my 2 prime ashstaves i bought.
/Mikael
