Sometimes recipes dictate whether something should be cut lengthwise or crosswise. And while it's easy to dismiss the difference (it's all just getting chopped up, right?) sometimes the distinction ...

I was ankle-deep in mud in a woodsy corner of Baltimore County, watching two furniture makers use a $100,000 saw to cut a three-ton log lengthwise into wood slabs worth $1,000 apiece. “It’s Christmas, ...