Drying small wood slices

[Kevin Beitz]

For small chunks turners put bowl blanks in garbage bags with saw dust to dry.

[Pete Staehling]

This raises a question for me. I don't have a lot of experience with drying wet wood, so help me understand this one.

My wife recently needed some rounds an inch thick and maybe 6-7" in diameter. I cut some from an oak log and popped a few in the oven at 170 F or so for an hour at a time and let them slowly cool down. I repeated that until they were dry enough. I figured it was a long shot, but she was in a hurry. I was surprised that they didn't crack. Interestingly some left over ones that were left untreated and standing on edge in the shop all developed big cracks over the next week or two. The ones I dried remain mostly crack free or at least free of cracks bad enough to notice in her usage (they were painted with acrylic paints). I don't remember the numbers, but it was pretty wet to start and I dried to moderately dry.

Shouldn't the accelerated drying have caused them to crack more?