Rhodadendren

[870BkWht]

Last week I asked if anyone had ever used Rhodadendron for a striker, and you guys helped with my question.  Now I have another question.  I cut 3 pieces from a farm I hunt a lot here in WV and following the advice of a callmaker I coated the ends with leftover latex paint to try and prevent checking and cracking.  When these pieces get dry I want to send them to someone to make me a couple of strikers, but I have a few questions first.  
1. Variables (humidity, heat, weather, etc) aside about how long should it take these pieces to dry out to be ready for turning?
2. Should I do anything else to aid in the drying of these pieces such as maybe take the bark off the wood?
3.  I have thought about laying these in my attic to speed the drying as opposed to keeping them in my basement.  Would this be wise?
4. Based on the size of what I have, would it be possible to turn a tube call from any of these pieces? Lenght on the longest one is about 23'' and just over 3'' in diameter is the average of the 3 pieces.
Thanks
Ben

[KryptoniteKills]

I dont claim to know it all but from my experience drying wood I found it best to leave the bark on. When the bark starts to peel is a good indicator of when it is dry. I like to leave my wood out of the sun and excessive heat. It is best to have it dry slowly to minimize cracking. Hard to say how long it will take to dry. If you know you want strikers it may be better to saw into smaller pieces to speed the drying process. Just my thoughts.

[Gobblerstopper]

Good looking pieces of wood.  As long as your attic is not extremely hot, I think it's a good place to put the wood.  If you have some air flow up there, that will help also.

I've heard to leave the bark on also, but I can't remember why.  I got a piece of beaver chewed up dogwood here that I picked up in the woods this spring.  It is about the same size and I left it as one piece with the bark on it.  I think it will be ready by next spring although they say to allow one year for every 1" of wood as a general rule.