You were told you could help yourself, and you took THOSE TWO?! Crazy.
Looks like yew. There aren't many other trees here in the UK that have needles like that. Don't panic about sealing the ends. I always forget to seal the ends of my staves and I've not had any splitting or checking yet. I've got some yew billets sat upstairs that have been seasoning for about 7 months now without sealed ends. They're not showing any signs of splitting.
Not that it's a good idea to skip it. I actually bought some PVA glue specifically for the job but keep forgetting. Maybe I'm just lucky. You can use anything - candle wax, beeswax, paint, glue, varnish, sealant whatever you have lying around.
G'luck.