How to prepare Pine plates taken from Ike-toppled tree

[Scott Haddix]

A friend of mine had a massive pine tree fall into his garage during hurricane Ike, destroying it and denting his truck. The crew that removed the tree gave him two 'plates' they cut from the trunk. They are about 24" across, and vary from 3" to 5" in thickness. He wants to make some sort of small table with them eventually.

What is the best way to preserve them so they don't crack too badly while air drying? And, how long should he wait before trying to do anything with them.

[Jim Becker]

Outside of banding them with metal, it's nearly impossible to keep "cookies" from splitting as the shrinkage is generally significant. 3-5" thick will take anywhere from 2-5 years to "completely" dry, although these should be on the shorter end of that since it's mostly end-grain.