Kory,
Ash would have been nice but none was in the wood pile . In the words of Darrell Royal; "You dance with them that brung you", most of the time I use what I have. This time it was Poplar which will split if you go all Conan on it. Both seats were from the same plank both split in the same place so it could have been a defect but most likely I got careless.
ken