Well, you're clearly not looking closely enough! But I do everything I can to minimize checking. In douglas fir, one key is to avoid boxed heart timber. That's if you can't afford kiln dried (very expensive). In Eastern White Pine, you want boxed heart (it doesn't grow big enough for FOHC anyway). For both, we always coat with end grain sealer as soon as we get it from the mill (if the mill doesn't provide that step). We also seal it eveytime we expose the end grain, including inside mortises. We keep the humidity high in the shop in winter. CB.
