Another take on this drying biz:

From time to time I clean out the shop and find left over cans of
polyurethane, shellac, laquer, etc. that are not good enough to use on
a project, or that have expired past their shelf life.
I mix all these together with some mineral spirits if needed, and have
a nice mix of.... stuff.

With an old brush, I slather this stuff on my green finds. Since it is
thinner than the wax emulsions, it has some penetration and can dry
rapidly. If that is the case I slather on another coat. You would be
surprised how well this stuff works. I started doing this with quart
of plain, left over poly that a buddy of mine gave me and have since
changed it to a shelf cleaning project throwing everything that mixes
or doesn't together so I will have some ready when I get some wood.

Like Owen, I have found that the best way is to only do about an inch
or so up the ends. I found this out the hard way when I bought a 2X2
stick of Cocobolo a few years ago at a woodworking show. His deal was
that his wood was perfectly protected since it was dipped in a vat of
wax. Great, right?

I figured that the wood I was looking at was in the jungle six or so
months ago, so it had six months of drying, then another 6 months until
I got around to turning Christmas ornaments. So it was "off the tree"
for a year, drying with the dealer and in my protected garage.

Every ornament I turned from that piece cracked after being out in the
air for about 10 days. My own experiments revealed that it was the
drying/preservation technique, not the wood as I was able to duplicate
the results.

So get the ends, sticker it up to get some good air flow, and keep your
cut and treated wood pile out of direct sunlight after you have
finished. To cut the immediate air flow down and help with the face
checking, I also put a tarp over the first couple of courses, but leave
room for ventilation around the bottom.

I have mine set up on treated sills as direct contact with the ground
in South Texas means instant termites and borers. If I know I will
not get to this pile for a few months, at this time I also spray
insecticide on the wood so it won't be too attractive to the wood
workers of the insect world.

Robert