Rob and Jaki Roy, co-directors of Earthwood Building School in West Chazy, NY for 36 years, take a different point of view. They used to use mostly split wood, but now use mostly white cedar (or equal) rounds. The shrinkage is exactly the same in splits and rounds, and the Roys have found the wood easier to lay up because it more readily holds its shape from one side of the wall to the other. Further, the rounds are easier to point, because of the ragged edge that results on the bottom side of a split log. Finally, the greater amount of mortar using rounds is actually a plus because the mortared portion of the wall performs better, thermally, than the wooden portion.