Wood Preparation

[Tom Winship]

There are many trees here in Central Texas that are not going to make it. There will be an abundance of local woods, it appears. Mainly water oak, elm, red oak and others.

My questions are these.

1. The trees will probably be left standing until next spring to see if they leaf out again. In so doing, if they are truly dead on the stump, will leaving them for 6 months hurt the wood for turning.

2. After cutting I'm sure you recommend applying Anchorseal. Once you start turning a piece, what is the protocol for drying. I see a lot of threads talking of DNA, but could you explain how to use it.

Thanks in advance,

[Jim Burr]

Tom, I have a lot of green wood in the cabinet and have never used a teaspoon of anchorseal. Smart & Final, Costco or Wally World has plastic food wrap or Saran Wrap. 3-4 good wraps and it is sealed tight. You will get some surface mold, but so far after 6 months, not one check in everything from walnut to mesquite to elm. If you haven't tried it...don't knock it!

[Tom Winship]

Jim, do you just wrap the ends or the whole piece?

[Bernie Weishapl]

Tom I used to DNA everything I turned but after attending a couple of demo's by Mike Mahoney I started using anchorseal because it was cheaper. Yes it does take longer to dry. I anchorseal the whole bowl when it is roughed out. It will take 6 months or longer to dry but I have around 50 or so rough outs in varies stages of drying. So far no cracks. Normally now when I finish a dried bowl I will rough out 2 to 4 more to replace it. That way I have a supply always there.

[Dennis Ford]

I do the same a Bernie, anchorseal the rough-out completely. With the elm you have options; it moves a lot but is resistant to splitting. Oak can be difficult to dry, shortcuts with it will often lead to trouble.