>> If anything, I would tend to let the stuff dry for longer than the rules
of thumb.  I have had plenty of 20 year old wood move when I ripped it into
parts, and this is something you don't want for a workbench

>I'm a newbie on this sort of things. I know that he's cutting logs
(tree trunks) that have been drying outside for "a while", so i'm not
sure it qualifies as green wood (Re: Joseph),  i don't think that he's
trying to "manage" the drying of the slabs.

For what it's worth, when I built my bench last year (well, 2018, so year
before now), I took Chris Schwarz's advice and just built it without
worrying about dryness. His comment is something along the lines of, "yeah,
it'll move, but if it's big enough, it won't matter that much and in the
meanwhile you'll have a bench."

That has proved to be true. My oak slab was soaking wet, and I just bulled
ahead and built it anyway. Worked out fine. The top is still tending to cup
a bit (unfortunately the sawyers included the pith in it, silly sawyers)
but I just flatten it every so often when it bugs me enough, and in the
meanwhile...I have a bench.

My sense is that the anticipation of problems is worse than the actual
problems, but perhaps that's just me.

Pics of the journey here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rbrazile/albums/72157691923374330

For those who just want to cut to the chase:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rbrazile/45838413314/in/album-72157691923374330/

For those who remember my old Galootavision segment, I remodeled my house
after that (2001, sheesh) and one result is that my shop is a bit larger
now.

Robert Brazile
Arlington, Mass.