Get the thickest, straightest, branch-free section you can find. Cut it, and run it through a bandsaw. Try to draw the cut line through branches, scars, and deformities in the bark. You want the best face of the wood running down the middle of the stave. Seal the ends as soon as you cut. Peel the bark as soon as you have the piece sawn in half. Now seal the face of the wood that had bark on it. The only bare exposed unsealed wood you want is the cut face.
I would mate the cut faces together with popsicle sticks or thin sticks between them and I would either tie them back together with rope or bands of rubber cut from bicycle inner tubes. So long as there is a little air gap between the cut faces, they will dry nicely. By binding them tightly back together you prevent them from warp and twist. Now just let them dry for a year for each inch of thickness at the thickest part of the staves.
I have pics of a hop hornbeam that I cut a year ago where I have it bound up in just this way. I'll try to get pics and post them soon.
