We buy oak and walnut as whole logs from two mills we have worked with for a decade. The logs are sawn into boards and stacked with spacers so air can move between them.
Two years of waiting
Boards air-dry outside for a year per inch of thickness, then spend three weeks in a kiln. Rushing this step is how tables crack in their first winter.
When the boards come in, we sort them by grain and color. Around half go on to become tabletops and doors. The rest become drawer sides, legs and the offcut boxes we give away.