Drying Sugar Maple Crotch

[Allan Wright]

I had a sugar maple shatter over the winter and the crotch split at the fork. One half was shattered, but the other stayed whole and I've saved it from the wood pile. I know I need to paint/wax both ends, but my question is the wood where the crotch joined has no bark. Should I wax/paint that or leave it bare for drying? I'm thinking this face will have the most feature and I don't want to dry it improperly and lose it.

Thanks for your help. If a photo of the piece will help let me know and I'll provide one.

[Eric Gourieux]

If you can, go ahead and rough turn it and seal it. I would seal the entire piece, since it is crotch. Others may do it differently. I have tried sealing crotch before with pretty poor results. I've often cut crotch to reveal a really nice feather, only to have it split before I could get around to turning it.

[Rick Gibson]

With crotch I first remove the pith then if I can't get at it right away I seal the ends with wax or wood glue that has been slightly watered down. Rough turn as soon a possible and then seal the entire bowl with the wood glue and set it aside until it stops loosing weight. I've only done a half dozen pieces or so this way and only lost one due to a large piece of pith from a branch that ended up in the side of the bowl. I figure I've been lucky

[Doug Herzberg]

I have accidentally left some of the cambium layer in sugar maple roughs. This shrinks a lot faster than the wood and, if in a critical location, can cause you problems. I have not had such problems with other woods.

[Barry McFadden]

I usually seal all exposed surfaces with a product called end sealer from Lee Valley and have had good luck using it...

[Allan Wright]

Thank you all. Rough turning first seems a smart choice, but as I'm still in the buying process for my lathe I'll have to chance it and just seal it un-turned. I'll try sealing the face as well as the ends.