Thanks everyone for all the input and advise. The planks were sawed out last Tuesday and with work and other commitments, I didn't get the bark peeled off the edges until yesterday. I sawed one cherry stock blank out, but was running out of daylight, so I stacked and stickered the rest of the planks in a friend's barn. I was afraid to leave them unstacked for much longer. I painted all the ends after stacking. I'll go back and saw out blanks as I have time this winter.
I should have mentioned, the ash tree we cut had been dead at least a year, maybe 2. The cherry was dead too, but I don't know for how long. A flood last spring deposited the whole tree, roots and all, in our deer camp. Fortuitous. The landowner kept a 23 foot log out of the trunk. It was straight as a gun barrel and no limbs. The log I got was one limb where the tree forked.
This has been fun, but a helluva lot of work! I hope it ends up being worth the trouble.
-Ron