Thread: Marking up a small log for handsawing boards

I have some shortish lengths of recently cut red oak and I think spruce. Diameters around 40-50cm and lengths 40-80cm. I thought it would be interesting to have a crack at handsawing them into short boards. Up until water and wind powered sawmills with riving this was the standard practise, is still used in Africa and even after steam became more common was still used in rural Australia in the 19th century. Ned Kelly worked in a sawpit. My brother in-law always thought it was good for beginners to start with handtools as this could give some useful insights. Particularly as to why people use powered tools

They're only short lengths so they can be processed on a sawbuck. And there's not much taper. What I'm unsure about is how best to mark up the cutting lines that I'll follow with the ripping saw. For simple backsawing (slabbing) I need a line marked on each face connected by a line down the log. How best to do this? With one of those chalked lines snapped against the log and a plumb at each end? If I can get that sorted then marking for quarter-sawing on a radius perpendicular to a sawn diameter should be similar. But to do true quarter-sawing with the boards following the radius line around the arc of the log seems more difficult.

Thanks in advance

MAI