Anchor Seal question

[Michael Ginsberg]

Courtesy Irene, I have some very large Silver Maple logs to prep and store. My logs are about 30" in diameter. I planned on cutting them in half (leaving out a couple of inches on either side of the pith. I am using Original Anchor Seal. I know about sealing the ends. Should I be sealing the surface that I just cut as well (the surface running parallel to the bark)?
I don't want these pieces to split before I can get to rough turn them.
Thanks all.
Michael

[Prashun Patel]

That's not AS critical, but I always seal all surfaces of the exposed log.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Michael,
If you have 30" logs and you cut 2" each side of the pith, you will still have up to 12" deep by 26" or so blanks. That's huge. Maybe you want to cut 3 or 4" each side of the pith then cut the pith away from the middle sections and make four blanks out of each log section. Great wood, enjoy it.
faust

[Prashun Patel]

In fact, on some of them, I'd prefer to cut away only as much pith as is necessary to preserve as much of the depth as possible. This will allow you to plane the bark side deeper and still leave a fat, deep blank to do many things with.

[Jon Nuckles]

I have not used silver maple (yet) so I can't say for sure, but I would seal the cut sides along with the ends. I cut some walnut and cut away the bark and most of the sapwood. I sealed the ends and the first inch or two of the side grain. About half of the pieces started splitting on the sides. Almost all of the ones that split started in the sapwood and spread into the heartwood, indicating to me that the sapwood was less dense and dried and shrunk more/faster. This would not apply to your pieces if you are leaving the bark on, but why take chances?

[Michael Ginsberg]

Faust,
Actually, one log is 30" x 30". The others are about 24 " diameter and 6' long. I was going to cut the longer log in to 2' sections and cut the pith out like I explained earlier.
What do you think?

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Go for it. I usually section the log pieces 2" to 4" longer than the diameter. Then if it checks a bit I can cut that away. Seal it as soon as you cut it. By the way, can you swing a 24" rough out. If not, don't waste the length.
faust

[Michael Ginsberg]

Fuast, I can only turn 16" on my nova, but with the outrigger I can go bigger. Also my buddy has a Oneway 2436.

Thank you all for your help.

Michael

[Bernie Weishapl]

I would cut them as you explained. Cut a 1/2" to 1" on either side of the pith. I only seal the ends going over the top about 2 or 3 inches. I give it 2 coats. I never seal the flat side and haven't had a problem.

[David E Keller]

Just to confuse things... I'd leave it in log form as long as possible still sealing the ends with a double coat. You can chunk off blanks as turning time allows. I'd also leave at least one of the pieces to spalt!

[Thomas Canfield]

My rule of thumb for cutting out the pith is to cut a slab 15% of diameter. That seems a little large and on the 30" would be 4.5", but you get some really nice quarter sawn material that can be used for small bowls, spindles when dry, or other. I have had too many rough turned bowls crack if there is even the least incidation of pith, and the pith often is not nunning straight or hard to really determine. It is hard to throw away 19" rough turned bowls that came from blanks with 10% of diameter pith slabs removed.

On the larger diameters, you might consider cutting the log in thirds or even quarters for turning natural edge out orientation. A 30" diameter 20" long will then provide 4 bowl blanks for a Powermatic and make some really nice bowls/platters. I have done this recently with some Sycamore (30" in quarters) and Bradford Pear (20" in thirds). You still need to cut off a wedge of pith and that will be were you later put a tenon so don't be stingy with the cut with the chain saw.

[Michael Ginsberg]

Thomas, Do you mean 4 1/2 " cut out total, or 4 1/2" on either side of the actual pith?
Thanks.
Michael

[Thomas Canfield]

Michael,

I mean cut out a slab 4 1/2" thick, cut each side of pith. I should post a pic in a couple of days of a bowl make from a quarter section of 30" D Sycamore as I suggested above. I am waiting on the first coat of Grapeseed Oil to dry and then apply a second coat for use as a utility bowl.

[Eric Gourieux]

Last summer, I cut and sealed a hard maple log that was 10' long, 32" at the base and 20" at the top. I cut it into turning blanks 14" x 14" x 6" and smaller and sealed all surfaces with Anchorseal. I think it's worth it. Haven't been brave enough to seal endgrain only.