Splitting/sawing fine boards from logs by hand

I am considering getting into lutherie more, as I was looking at ukuleles today to get as a gift, and seeing that I probably have enough of the skills such that I could feasibly and forseeably make one of better quality than many of the ones I saw. One of those points is that of being able to make boards from roundwood. As preparation I felled and have been sawing up a small, recently deceased red spruce tree from nearby. I used a maul and the result was a few thick, uneven boards. I don’t have a splitting axe, or a froe (but may be able to improvize the latter). Getting some of these tools may be a possibility.

Sawing into boards (especially thin ones) seems like it would be impractical with hand tools but maybe not?

Does anyone have practical advice for this sort of craft?

While I am not sure, I feel the tool you would need is called a jig saw or maybe a coping saw.

I've cut up a log by hand in to thin boards before. I used a cheap Japanese backsaw, which is really thin and cuts on the back stroke. I took a bit off of one side and used a plane to make a nice finish surface and cut off the next piece, so that by the end I would have boards with only one rough sawn surface. This was with some highly figured cedar, so it cut very easily.

If the wood is much harder to cut then definitely take your time with it. Do one or two small planks and move on to something less monotonous. A thick western saw is going to be a lot more physically demanding to use. The first backsaw I got was a Marples I found at Home Depot, and I used it so much that I ended up replacing it with a Harbor Freight version. I just used it to cut pieces for a bike trailer. I find it more convenient for small cuts than a circular saw. It can also cut much wider planks than a typical circular saw. Plenty of times in the past at work I have cut slits on either side of a boards and went back down the middle with the backsaw.

The only problem is that they are crazy sharp. You may want to wear a glove if you have to hold pieces with your hand. I had the saw pop out of the cut once and barely caught my thumb, but it was enough to chip a sliver of bone off and cause a lot of issues. With the right wood, splitting would be easier work, but that would take a lot of skill as well.

With a froe to start making thin planks and a shaving horse and good drawknife, you should be able to make nice smooth thin boards. Planes would be wanted to finish precisely. It would not be efficient if the wood was expensive, so you would need to be able to waste 2/3 or much more of the wood until you get very skilled.

A standing shop bandsaw can generally make cuts up to 6" thick, so if you can get access to one of those, you could start much closer to your desired finished state. You would want a new blade and slow careful feeding to keep the blade from wandering.

I love the Japanese pullsaws, which can take just a paper-thin kerf out of the wood. As long as they have good guide slots at either end of the stroke, you can get a good board fairly quickly and then plane it to a perfect finish.

I have used a heavy machete as a froe. Passable on easy to split wood.

A Froe will require a lot more planing to get a smooth board than using a saw, but it leaves the grain whole so you can pay attention when planing to avoid runout and end up with a stronger board for the same thickness. It should improve the tone as well, but that is way beyond ability.

My philosophy on tools is to buy tools to make money, but make do for hobbies and home projects at least at first. I have learned this after spending WAY TOO MUCH tooling up for a hobby that doesn’t last.

You can make a froe from an automotive leaf spring.

If you don't have a froe, I think that what you mostly need are wedges. Traditionally these were wooden ones, from hard wood (like oak), you can make them yourself. Steel wedges are even better, especially for stubborn logs.

I would use very straight logs, no knots, and go with a grain. Just hitting a wedge with a mallet or a hammer. Places where the log has a crack or something similar is a good place to start.

Then in the end you need to flatten the boards. For that, there is a hand tool called drawknife (or draw knife?).

Many thanks to Anne for the suggestion of a coping saw! I am now sawing the one thick board into two fine boards where I thought it would not be possible to get more than one out of it. However I think that one of the Japanese saws might be better, though I don’t have one currently. It seems like to cut something more efficiently, a much longer blade would be necessary, especially if the board is wider than the coping saw is long (fortunately this is a little one). I am thinking that even a hacksaw could potentially work.

Here is the result.

Good project, sawing anything by hand is fun exercise also. I have had best luck with Japanese steel on the pull saws, and this one is discounted quite handsomely

Any longer than 10 " can be counterproductive,  as it gets a bit wobbly.  Most of the pull saws I have owned had replacement blades f9r sale too

Thank you for the suggestions!

Results of some further refinement with pocket knife and sandpaper are below.

Oddly I found that birch bark seems to be a better sound board in this project than spruce! And it’s turning out to be more of a peculiar little fiddle than anything.

My suggestion is to practice with pieces of veneer if you can find any around, mostly because I had to disassemble some old drawers after water damage and I saved the layers thinking they'd be good for a project. (haven't found one yet, but they are pretty slices, over 100 years old)

There may be some confusion regarding what I am asking about—I am referring to taking a log from the forest to begin with, and ending up with a board, rather than cutting already-made boards. But I appreciate all the advice nevertheless.

Here is a good video that explains wedge technique I was talking about.

Sorry for no pictures but a friend lead me to the idea of repurposing or remaking an old mower blade as a froe. I was able to obtain and use one for free, and without any additional modifications, use it to split thin (2 inch wide, much less--fraction of an inch--thick) boards from a piece of wood. And they are beautiful!!!

I'm interested in using them to make a oud- or mandolin-like "bowl back" to an instrument, which involves splitting the wood and bending them into a bowl shape, unlike "box" type lutes such as guitar, fiddle, or ukulele (and some mandolins), which have (typically) a flat top and bottom. They are not really wide enough for the sound board, and anyway are the wrong wood (oak or maple I think--I tested it out on some dry firewood)