I may get some stains or spalting, I expect, and that's okay. I'm not aiming to paint it, but a future buyer could paint it if they wanted to. As long as I can get it dry and stable to work with I'll be happy. I don't have any butternut to cut now, we have very few of those trees and I only cut them when they are dying. I think we're marginal climatically, and there is something else that's affecting them but I don't remember what.