Not sure where you are located so the different species of wood you will find may change a lot. I am referring to standard eastern hardwoods so....For boxes you want to look for poplar, butternut..softer woods for the bodies. Exception being walnut and maybe some cherry? To start keep it simple. For lids look for sugar maple, walnut, cherry and the medium to hard woods. You may find other woods interesting too...Red elm, hackberry and so on. ALWAYS go for straightest grain you can get. Keep whatever interests you. No right or wrong here. It always makes good campfires!
For pots the options are more open. Again, just try to go with good straight grain. Crotch wood and twists are beautiful but tend to twist and do strange things when drying (same for boxcall stock). Glass CAN AND WILL crack! lol!
Cut sections long enuff so you can handle them but probably no shorter than 2 feet. I usually try to split the log down the center to relief stress when drying plus it gives you reference to ACTUAL grain when resawing later. personally if the logs are 10" or more I split down the middle then chainsaw a 3" slab off, working parallel to grain, working toward the outside. Bigger the log the more slabs ya get. Paint ends with latex. Several coats. Just dip em in bucket if small enuff. You will get some cracks anyway more than likely. Drying time can vary but the rule of thumb is 1 year of air dry per 1" of thickness under a shed or cover (tarp?).
Hope all this makes sense. There will be some waste in the process, no way around it. But this is a process I have been doing for years and it works. Good luck and stay safe. Falling limbs, trees and chainsaws can really mess up your day in a hurry.
