Working with "sentimental" logs

Someone brought me a few "sentimental" logs recently, asking me to turn them into rolling pins. The tree had grown in their yard for decades, and when it was time to cut it down, they couldn't bear to simply discard the wood. Or burn it. 

I've made my fair share of rolling pins out of "sentimental" logs - in fact, one year, a family dropped off a whole trunk full of wood, and asked that I make as many things from the wood as possible. That kept me busy for a while, and it was a fun project, as I had artistic license to make whatever the wood dictated. 

Here's an amazing video with some new technology for wood splitting... this sure would have been helpful when I lived back in Ohio, and spent each Fall splitting wood for the upcoming winter.