Anything special to air drying white pine beams

[peakbagger]

I recently ended up with pile of white pine slabs freshly cut to 8" thick (10'6" long). I was going to saw them all into boards but my guess is I am going to end up plenty of boards and thinking of slicing 8x8 posts out of one of the slabs which is about 34" wide (4 posts) and clear. Beyond anchor sealing the ends, should I do anything different than I would with boards?. I will probably mix a layer of them in with my board stacks. Should I put the posts near the bottom of the stack and let the boards above them weigh them down, or should I stack my boards down low and put the posts on top?.

[Don P]

They may bow from the release of growth stress as you saw them. The pattern of 4 @8" from a 34" says split pith. That said EWP is as forgiving as it gets. If you can start wider it'll help, stacking the pile on top will help but it won't fix anything if they take off with a big bow.

[peakbagger]

Thanks, I will keep an eye out for bowing and avoid the pith. 

[Southside]

No need to anchor seal pine. 

[Ianab]

Thanks, I will keep an eye out for bowing and avoid the pith.

Either leave it in the centre of an 8X8, or avoid it completely. Pith on the edge of a beam is likely to cause problems. The area around the pith (a few inches) is "juvenile wood". It has a different structure and shrinks a bit in length as it dries. So one side of the beam gets 1/4" shorter than the other, and you get a banana. If the pith is centred, then the stress is balanced out, and it should be OK. 
So you might get better results by taking 3 x 8x8s from a flitch, and some nice clear boards from the outside edges? That's one heart centred, and 2 "Free of Heart". 
As you plan on sawing some boards, and some beams, then you can pick and choose where they come from for best results. 

[peakbagger]

Sad to say the carpenter ants have decided the best use for the logs. The damage is not extensive but there are some tunnels so I have work around them. 

[K-Guy]

Expect some cracking, less if you air dry it.

[beenthere]

Sad to say the carpenter ants have decided the best use for the logs. The damage is not extensive but there are some tunnels so I have work around them.

Ants are there because the wood is decayed, and then they move in. 

[peakbagger]

I counted at least 125 rings, I expected some imperfections in a tree than old.