Any reason you couldn't throw a coat of paint over the cut ends to seal them up if you're worried about them drying out ? Just a thought...I'm sure no expert when it comes to this. Seems to severely slow/even out, the drying process on rough cut slabs. I've got one piece here (in the basement 4 ft from my wood stove) that I did nothing with, and it's cracked all to heck. The other two, I put a couple of coats of laytex pain on them, and they're doing fine.
