Green vs. Dried Wood
Some items were made from green (recently harvested) wood and some were made from wood that had been sawn into boards and dried. For the purpose of this discussion, we are talking about furniture scale work. Small items (bowls, spoon, etc.) could be made from literally anything green or dry.
Working green wood is easier than working dried wood. The wood fibers are softer and sever more easily so your tools don't dull as fast. It's much easier to remove material in large chunks. The resulting boards are also stronger. The process yields boards where the fiber runs the length of the board. In sawn wood, it's cut straight regardless of the grain of the log.
On the downside, your tools will rust if you aren't careful. Fine work isn't possible until the wood dries at least a little. And your wood choice is constrained to ring-porous woods (see below).
Riving Wood
Splitting boards from logs is called riving. This is a process where you take a section of log that's as large a diameter as possible which is straight and has no branches. Using this process, the boards will be no more than about 40% of the width of the log you are starting with. So, say you have a 24" diameter log. You can expect to get, at best, 10" boards. Probably closer to 8" depending on the quality of the log. Large panels can be glued up, but not fresh from the log.
You start by splitting the log in half. Then you split it into quarters. Split again. Continue to split until you get to the right size.
What's the right size? The pieces you have split out are wedge-shaped. However, you don't want the pith (very center wood) or the sapwood and bark (the outer part).
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(oak, ash, elm, black locust).
