I get my spruce in hand split wedges about 3"+ across the inside, and double that + on the outside. I'm sure there's vids somewhere on the process to split logs.

I joint one section of the wedge on the outside (bark), towards one of the faces, then start resawing. When it starts to go ever so slightly off quarter, I do the same to the other side and work my way in. If I were doing an archtop, I'd see if I could split off enough so that one cut down the middle would make my two sides.

By the way, the first cut off the split face could be considered waste, but I cut it wide enough to make brace material. Depending on how big the face of your log is, you may be able to take a chunk out of the "inside" of the log for brace material, which also gives you a flat "top cutting surface" so your saw can be adjusted to one height effectively.

I cut billets radially. It's a simple ratio between the inside width and outside width. Put a tall fence on the band saw and tilt the table until you get the right dimensions. I have an appliance on my planer that allows me to joint pieces up to 12" wide so I can start with an absolutely flat side but it could be done with careful hand planing. The other option is to make a tilting fence or you could make a one-off fence out of scrap that's tilted to the correct angle. There are many options but radial cutting guarantees perfectly quartered tops.

What are you using to split it?, I'll post a picture of it tonight. I'm wondering if I wax up a large and old sharp saw I have (it was my grandfathers), if I could use that and a wedge to cut it down the middle...

Thank You...
-Paul-

Please post pics of the process, if you can. Having trouble imagining a pie shaped wedge on a bandsaw.

Thanks!

"...photos would be a waste of time."

The illustration of the sawing is similar to my method. I flatten the bark surface on the jointer, or by sawing on the bandsaw. The first cut is through the middle, guided by the flattened edge of the split surface at the bark. This assures no runout at the bark edge of the tops, which is normally the edge that is joined.

Cutting parallel to the split where the center join will be is especially important with the Engleman growing (and mostly dying )around here. It tends to grow with the grain wrapping like a barber pole.