Cutting rounds by hand

[Tristan Wilson]

Hello all,
I'm a total newb but some amazing wood just fell into my lap and I want to make good use of it. So what happened is my friends neighbor had a huge chestnut tree removed from his yard and they had 6 huge rounds they didn't want to keep(about 2 feet thick and 5 feet across) so I took them. they have been aging in a dry place to three months now and I plan on cutting them into thinner biscuits to make a bunch of tables out of them.
My questions are
1. how long until I can cut them. My research so far says at least a year, is that correct?
2. how thin can I cut them before they become too weak to be good tables?
3. How do I cut them? I cant find a place to rent a big enough chainsaw so I was thinking of making a jig similar to how you plank logs with a chainsaw but I would customize it for a two man crosscut saw and maybe a jig to somehow stand the rounds up vertically to make cutting easier. I'm a metal fabricator so I can make basically anything to make this work but if their are some trade secrets any of you know that can help I would really appreciate it.

Thank you all for your time.

[Jamie Buxton]

The biscuits you propose to make are almost guaranteed to split as they dry. The splits will run from bark to pith. There's a great book by Bruce Hoadley on the physics of wood called Understanding Wood.

[Tristan Wilson]

The biscuits you propose to make are almost guaranteed to split as they dry. The splits will run from bark to pith. There's a great book by Bruce Hoadley on the physics of wood called Understanding Wood.

I had an idea if this happened. I was thinking of doing that resin filler that is so popular right now with all the wavy colors or filling it with molten aluminum.

[Dan Carroll]

In that case you are not going to be depending on the wood itself for strength, the resin will supply the strength. Getting a straight cut with a saw is going to hard. Mark as best you can, cut oversize and so something like a router slide to get it flat and true.