Travis said, "There are better ways to spend your time in money on preventing checking...in my opinion anyway."
Unless you do it my way. I convinced my wife (don't ask me how) that Anchorsealing the ends of the hunks of a large tree I once cut up was fun. She spent the day painting those ends. I think I used a sorta Tom Sawyer fence painting psychology. Somehow, I don't think I'll get away with it again.
Chuck, Anchorseal is a water soluable paraffin wax. Don't ask me how they do it. But it works fine. BTW, if you order a five gallon bucket, the shipping is free.
Stu, most of the wood sealing products on the market are really Anchorseal under different labels and at considerably higher prices.
I'm a fan of the product. It keeps well as long as you don't let it freeze.
Available from
https://www.uccoatings.com/