Wood Gloat with Questions

[Jack Tyree]

It was an ornamental Maple tree of some sort, the kind with real dark red leaves all summer long. It started dying about seven or eight years ago and was not completely cut down until late last fall. The main trunk was cut just this spring and my neighbor asked me if I wanted it for campfire wood. After looking at it and seeing all the spalting & wild crotch grain, (truth is I've had my eye on it for seven or eight years), I told him heck yes, but told him it would be for turning, not for burning.

I've only turned green wood once, and that bowl went horribly oval. Here are the questions:
1. What should I use to keep the checking to a minimum before I can get bowls roughed out? Is it too expensive to pretreat cut blanks with Pentacryl or Wood Juice? I have been to the Preservation Solutions website and suspect that it will.
2. Should I just leave it as is and just wax the end grain and cut blanks as I use them?
3. Would it be smart to put the logs in large plastic bags to slow the drying process down?
4. When you soak (or brush on) rough blanks, can the remainder of the Pentacryl be put back in the jug and reused?
5. Is there a cheaper, more reliable solution?

[John Fricke]

Anchorseal is what most here use. I just bought some at Woodcraft for $21.99 / gallon. Brush on exposed grain like paint. It will cover a lot of blanks. to answer the rest of your questions.......all depends. If it has started to spalt this means it has started decaying. You don't want it to turn punky on you. I definately would not place in plastic bags, This would speed up the decay process. I didn't notice where you are located. If you live in a dry climate I would cut off blank size pieces as you use them, keep it sealed, and in as shady and wind free area as possible. If you live in humid area I would get it rough turned as fast as possible to prevent spalting from advancing to decay on you.

[Jack Tyree]

I live in Ohio, and it is some humid. The spalting has not gotten real punky yet, it is still fairly solid. I roughed out a piece round this afternoon and didn't have any problems with the spalted areas, but it did spew some chunks because of the checking around the bark.
It is not completely "green" yet, but it is nowhere near dry either. Guess sooner than later I should maybe invest in a moisture meter. I will investigate the Anchorseal, it does sound a little cheaper, and thet's right up my alley - thanx a heap!

[Joseph M Lary]

I would rough them out to turning sizes then Anchorseal them. they will be easyer to store in our shop . I put mine on the floor of the garage its cooler on the cement floor . Nice find:)

[Nathan Hawkes]

Cut 'em up and start turning! You're going to lose a bit of that wood within the next several weeks to months. IME a lot of maple goes from spalted to punky pretty quickly.
Get your roughouts into paper bags, doubled if its going to be in a hot shed, maybe some shavings in there.

Most importantly, get them out of the sun! That's going to check the logs quickly!