Butternut Wood

[longbeard]

Hey everybody, hope ya all are having a great and safe 4th.
We recently had a REALLY BAD storm come thru our area on Friday, knocked out the power for most for 3 days and some still dont have power today ( 6 days ). But with all the trees down, im like a little kid in a candy store found some butternut that im gonna turn some small bowls and lidded boxes from but id like to cut some pen blanks also out of it, so my question is: How is the best way to dry the pen blanks? cut them oversized and let them dry on their own?, put them in a bag with the shavings and sawdust? just not sure the best way to dry them so any help and advice is appreciated.
Thanks in advanced

 

[Akula]

I like to leave whole, seal the ends and just cut later...but I have cut oversized and did some drying and store inside a bag with wood chips

 

[low_48]

i cut all my blanks about 1" square and 6" long. Stack them so air gets all around it for about a week in your shop, then move them to the attic of the house. Butternut dries really easily, and should be ready in less than a month.