On Sunday, June 12, 2016 at 10:12:58 AM UTC-4, Sonny wrote:
On Sunday, June 12, 2016 at 7:55:28 AM UTC-5, Larry Kraus wrote:


A SHARP hand plane, adjusted to take light shavings, will work very
well. To avoid breakage, I'd make a jig to support the core. Dado a slot
as wide as the core in a board, but shallower, with an end stop, to hold
the core in place as you plane off the protruding top. Or build up a
slot along a core by tacking slightly thinner strips of wood alongside.

Is getting/having more than one core sample possible? I'd try Larry's (very sharp plane, etal.) suggestion and, maybe, wet one sample... see if that softens the fibers for better/best/easier planing. Slow, not fast, planing strokes?

If the log/tree has some significant age to it, I'd like to see a pic of the log/tree/snag. I enjoy "visiting" old grandpa trees/snags and the like. When I come across old magestic(?) trees, I sometimes imagine what stories/life they could tell or have experienced.

Sonny

Here is a 250+ Sugar Maple tree
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resi...nt=photo%2cJPG

A 239 year old live oak
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resi...nt=photo%2cJPG

A 300+ year old Green Ash
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resi...nt=photo%2cJPG

And a 225 year old Eastern Red Cedar
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resi...nt=photo%2cJPG