When to use anchor seal

[Keith E Byrd]

When you are turning fairly green wood and don't have time to finish until the next day, do you need to put anchorseal on while waiting? I think the answer is yes. If it is do I coat the whole piece or just the end grain?:confused:

I appreciate you all putting up with the newbie!:)

[Doug Wolf]

Just wrap in a black plastic garbage bag for the night.

[Dan Forman]

Ditto the bag.

Dan

[Steve Schlumpf]

When I am done turning for the day - I grab a plastic grocery bag and cover the turning. It creates a micro-climate that keeps the wood from drying out and checking. I have left a turning on the lathe for a over week when using a plastic bag - but it the wood is green enough - it can still cause your chuck jaws to rust!

[Fred Perreault]

While on this discussion, does anybody Anchorseal rough turnings for the longer term drying process? If so, does the Anchorseal create any problems for the finish on the final turning?

[Jim Burr]

Let's expand this a bit. I was gifted a few chunks of spalted holly. They started to check badly. I dumped them in a 5 gal bucket of water (advice from another forum) and viola!!! No more cracks!!. So now the question is...can I Anchor seal it and wait, or just turn it and hope. Inquiring minds want to know!

[George Morris]

Fred i rough turn to 10% of diameter then coat with anchorseal the whole turning,first i put the date and type of wood on the tennon then coat. G

[Fred Perreault]

Thanks George.... I have Anchorseal for my sawn blanks, and I want to core a few of my large walnut, locust and maple blanks. I guess i would just coat the heck outta' them, store and forget about them in a constant environment for a while.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I do Fred. I attended a demo given by Mike Mahoney and he does that. I tried it and so far so good. I have around 50 or so rough turned bowls (the whole bowl is coated) and just a small crack in the one apple bowl. The rest look good. I store them in a cool place without much air movement on the floor. He said not to go over 3 ft or so off the floor. When they are dry or close to dry you can shelve them.

If I have to leave a turning on the lathe I do the wal-mart bag trick as others do.

[Lee Koepke]

Let's expand this a bit. I was gifted a few chunks of spalted holly. They started to check badly. I dumped them in a 5 gal bucket of water (advice from another forum) and viola!!! No more cracks!!. So now the question is...can I Anchor seal it and wait, or just turn it and hope. Inquiring minds want to know!
I have very little experience, but I had heard ... checks (cracks) develop where there were already cracks to begin with. Therefore if your holly had previously checked, even though it closed up, you probably still have the fault-line there. If I am mistaken, someone can correct me.

[Curt Fuller]

I agree with those that have said you can just wrap it in a plastic bag for a temporary seal. To expand on a couple of the other points made, I'm pretty sure it was Wally Dickerman that has said he paints the exterior of his roughed turnings with anchorseal to prevent them from drying. He lives in the Arizona desert so if that works there, it should work just about anywhere for long term drying. Someone else mention soaking the wood in a bucket of water. Again I think it was Wally who once said that you can mix regular white wood glue 50/50 with water and soak cracked wood. It will not only expand the wood and close the cracks but the glue will then keep the cracks closed. Wally, if it wasn't you who said all these things or if I've confused the concept, I apologize.

[Joe Meirhaeghe]

While on this discussion, does anybody Anchorseal rough turnings for the longer term drying process? If so, does the Anchorseal create any problems for the finish on the final turning?
Fred
I coat the outside of my rough turned green vessels, not the inside. Then I hang them from the ceiling upside down to dry. I Have had great success with this method.
I always return the dry turnings on both the outside & inside. When you return the piece you will turn away all the anchorseal & there will be no finishing problems from t.

[Fred Perreault]

Great information on the temporary and long term treatment of the turnings. I have an old plastic trash bag that I wrap around stuff that I may not finish in one or two days. I also never clean up all of my shavings around the lathe and use the pile to hide turnings to dry for a week or so. My visitors think it's very crafty.... my wife knows it's because I'm mostly lazy. :)

[Ryan Baker]

Covering a part-done turning with a plastic bag does work very nicely, but it will make a horribly rusty mess out of your chuck jaws overnight if it's green enough (unless you are using stainless jaws). After all the time I have wasted cleaning up jaws, I don't use that method any more if I have any choice. The best answer is get it done and get it off the lathe. You can mark the jaw position and take it off the chuck for the night. If you know it will need to stay mounted for some time, using a faceplate would be a good choice. You could also just coat it with Anchorseal or some other sealer and leave it there.

Sealing a rough-out with Anchorseal is no problem for the finish, because it will all be turned off before the piece is finished anyway. Soaking a turning to swell up the cracks doesn't help anything. The cracks are still there (even if you can't see them), and they WILL open up again, unless you do something like soaking in thinned glue.

[William Bachtel]

I use a plastic bag, works great.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

My visitors think it's very crafty.... my wife knows it's because I'm mostly lazy. :)

Ha ha. That was a good laugh for me. Thanks!

+1 on short term = bag, long term = Anchorseal. Not that short term Anchorseal won't work, just uses up your hard earned dollars.

[Prashun Patel]

I coat my log ends in anchorseal. I coat my rough round discs in it. I coat my rough turned bowls in it for drying.

In addition, I find the two keys are removing as much of the pith and small rings around the pith as possible, and keeping the bowls on the floor in a basement. Anchorseal is not enough to prevent these two factors from causing cracking.

SAY NO TO CRACK!

[Sean Hughto]

I don't recommend coating "the heck out of them." A normal coat is sufficient. In my expereince, heavier coats can trap in too much moisture and cause rot/spalting/mold not to mention needlessly lengthening the drying time. The Anchorseal is there to slow drying to a point where streses are released at a pace that will not cause cracking; you are not trying to stop drying.

[robert baccus]

Concerning the cracks---its a pain but if you want to save a nice piece of wood that has startedto crack--try this. with a pencil mark every crack with a > <. place the piece in a plastic bag with a very wet towel and check the next day. IF the cracks have closed apply thin CA to the marked cracks. they will have disappeared if not marked. seal that surface with anchotseal now! by the way i have not tried not sealing the insides of bowls with A.S. but it certainly works with vases and urns. i roughturn and hollow these any A.S. the exterior with not a failure yet. i suspect the wood tightens up drying from the inside------------------old forester