Hey all, I will be getting started with turning in weeks/months but I bumped into an opportunity for free wood and couldn't pass it up. My neighbor took down a large river birch in his yard. I rescued 3 nice chunks from his firewood pile the next day, before they started to check. I coated the end grain with Rockler's version of Anchorseal and they are now sitting in my garage.
2 pieces are crotches and the other should be nice straight grain. All 16-18" diameter. I'm hoping that the crotches will have some nice figure for platters and the straight piece will give me several nice pepper mill blanks.

Having never started with freshly downed wood, I have a question about how promptly I need to cut the turning blanks from these pieces. Can I wait a few months or should I try to cut these up immediately? Would prefer to wait a bit if I can. Also, another question I have is whether, after cutting the blanks, should I coat the entire blank in "anchorseal", or just the end grain, so that the blank can dry a bit through face grain.

Appreciate your advice on this.
Thanks!