Found Wood Question

[Tom Winship]

I found some wood that was recently cut today. Some species of elm. The ends have checked a little.

Should I trim the ends before I anchor seal or wait until I get ready to rough turn? I'm thinking later.

[George Guadiane]

In my opinion, it is always best to cut to a fresh end, THEN seal the ends for storage. With AnchorSeal, I would apply at least two coats, letting the first one dry for a day or more.

[David E Keller]

Yep, I do it the way George suggested.

[Tom Winship]

Done. Sawed into 18 bowl blanks and 1st coat of AS. Will apply second coat on Monday.

[Thomas Canfield]

Tom,

It may be too late for this run, but I would suggest cutting the blanks 10% or 1" min longer than the diameter and cutting out aa pith slab that is about 15% of diameter in thickness. Cutting out a little more pith than is required is much more preferable than finding that you did not cut out enough and have cracks start at the pith. Some of the smaller diameter can also be cut to about 150% or so of diameter (up to lathe capacity) to turn a long oval natural edge bowl even if you do not save the bark. Splitting a section into 3 or 4 pieces and cutting off the pith is a lot easier than cutting out the pith slab on some of the larger diameters, especially in my case cutting for 20" swing with 14" chainsaw.