Sealing bowl blanks (1/2 cut log form) ?

[Joe Watson]

After cutting a log in half to make a bowl blank, do you seal the whole thing or just the two end grains (if you do not turn it right away) ?

Picked up six "logs" about 18" long 24" dia and a few smaller 12" dia of silver maple.
New to all of this i just wanted to play with a chain saw and make a few blanks, sealed the end with anchor seal and a few of those i also sealed the "rip" cut.

Have no idea when i will get a chance to start turning (or rough out with the band saw), but thought by cutting and then sealing them it will help the dry time alittle bit.

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[Scott Hackler]

If the bark is still attached I wont coat the inside of the log. I guess I figure whats the point in only doing one side. If the bark is gone or I can pry it off, I will coat the whole thing.

[Paul Williams]

I just seal the ends. I keep my wood around for awhile before turning and I want it to dry out a little. I think If I was storing for a very long time, or if I wanted to keep it as wet as possible I would try sealing the eintire blank.

[Prashun Patel]

I seal the whole thing. My reasoning is the opposite (respectfully!!!) from Scott: the bark acts as a moisture barrier, so for evenness, I seal the other side.

[Donny Lawson]

I have some half logs cut and sealed(with Anchorseal) from April of this year and alot of them have split anyway. Now instead of bowl blanks it will be something else. I do not think the "NEW" Anchorseal is worth bringing home. I put on 2-3 coats on them too. Just my 2 cents worth.

[Thomas Canfield]

For the 18" long 24"D you might consider cutting the section lengthwise into 3 or 4 pie shape wedge sections and cut off the pith point. You can then turn "natural edge" bowls 18" long or slightly less instead of only 2 bowls. In any case. you need to cut out the pith (I recommend slab about 15% of diameter) on the split sections. The end grain is the main area to seal, and a double application of anchor seal might help if you don't plan to turn soon. I would recommend rough turning to the 10% of diameter wall thickness and coating with anchor seal or other drying method since green turns sooo much easier.

[Greg Just]

I seal the ends and about an inch on the sides.

[Joe Watson]

Thanks for all the insight everyone.


For the 18" long 24"D you might consider cutting the section lengthwise into 3 or 4 pie shape wedge sections and cut off the pith point That was gonna be another thread when the time comes :)
I have a small lathe, 12" swing which is why i only cut up the smaller 12" logs so far. When the time comes for the bigger stuff, i will have to do some planning along with the advice i seek here. I may try and cut one quarter sawn. A couple of the bigger ones are alittle rotten on the out side and on the ends (plan on trying to clean up the ends with the chain saw soon and reseal them). Was gonna try and cut one on a 45 angles just to see what would happen when turned.
Last week i was playing/turning with some smaller chucks i had from the same place (wood is from a nabor - cut and has been laying around out side for 5 months or so on a hill, out in the open) and it had some spalting going on. This is my first real batch of wood - its free - i have no problem with trial and error - so im just gonna see what happens.

Again, thanks everyone for your input - love to see what other people do - and why.

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[Michael Mills]

I do like Paul and Greg and just seal the ends. Except for some Holly (cut in spring) I have never had any crack on the sides.

On the larger diameter you may want to go ahead and cutting some quarter sawn. You may also consider cutting/splitting one or one-half of one for boxes, tool handles, candle sticks… almost everything not a bowl or platter. These would be lengths between 2” and 4” square that you can just split out with an axe. It is difficult and expensive to fine 16/4 dry wood. You can also go ahead and practice your roughing gouge and skew and turn them round while still wet.

Richard Raffans book The Art of Turned Bowls has about 40 pages at the beginning on grain patterns and various layouts other than the standard half-log bowl. Most of the book is about bowl design and is about $14 on Amazon.

[Thomas Canfield]

Joe,

The 18" long 24"D will start to check fairly fast if you don't cut out the pith. That usually means that the checks and splits then dictate what you can do with the wood if anything. Cutting "pie" shape pieces and then cutting off pith area also can give you some endgrain material for hollow forms later after it dries some or you can just turn it green and let it warp. Good luck and have fun.