Sealing wood

[Joe Melton]

I cut down a 50' elm about three weeks ago, and cut it into logs about 24" long. I didn't seal the ends because I figured it would become firewood for someone. Now I have decided to turn some of it, but the ends are starting to crack. My question is how should I proceed?
Should I seal the ends now or cut the ends off to the point where the cracks are gone and then seal them?
Thanks,
Joe

[Don Baer]

I would just seal em.

[Joe Melton]

Thanks, Don. I was concerned about getting the Anchorseal completely inside the cracks.
Joe

[Don Baer]

I paint the insides and overlap a little over the sides to make sure I get a lot on. Kinda messy but I haven't had and problems.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Joe I generally cut off both ends to where there is no cracks and make sure that you cut the pith out. I found if you just cut it up into bowl blanks and seal it works the best for me. I have found on Elm that if you don't cut the pith out it won't make any difference how well you seal it, it will crack. Also on Elm even if you seal the end leaving the cracks it will just keep going and continue to crack. That has just been my experience with what we call chinese elm.

[Ted Calver]

Joe,
I'm with Bernie on this one. I just tossed some Elm blanks into the burn stack because I waited to long seal them and thought the anchorseal would take care of the small cracks. It didn't and the cracks went all the way through.

[Andy Hoyt]

Joe - Assuming you have no intention of turning these anytime soon, here's what I suggest.

Spend all day tomorrow processing as many bowl blanks through a band saw as possible. And then throw some Anchorseal on them as soon as they get roundish. And since you're doing this kinda late in the game, plan on a good percentage of failures.

And by the by - Although it doesn't hurt to do so, I don't think Anchorseal will do much good in the cracks since it's all side grain down there.

[Joe Melton]

Thanks for the advice, guys. Now a newbie question. What, exactly, does it mean to cut the pith out? I assume you make lengthwise cuts on the log some distance, say, 1", on either side of the center. I know what pith is, but do not know how much material must be removed to get past the danger zone.
Does this make sense?
Joe

[Richard Madison]

Joe,
You have it. Remove a slab through the center of the log that is 1"-2" thick. If intending to store the half logs for a long time, you might want to seal the end grain and 1-2" down the cut surface with paraffin. Anchorseal or the equivalent is probably good for shorter term storage, as it apparently allows some very slow moisture loss.

[Joe Melton]

I got the elm pieces cut up on Sunday and stayed home Monday nursing a sore back. Guys who cut firewood probably don't spend much on fitness centers.
I ended up with about 50 bowl and vase blanks, which I sealed, and about 250 pen blanks, which I did not seal. The elm had some great colors in it, lots of brown, gold and white, and that surprised me. When I was a mere lad growing up in Okieland, we burned elm for heat and marshmallow fuel, and I never thought of it as having anything interesting about it.
I bought five one gallon cans of DNA at the borg to soak the pen blanks in, and it cost me about 70 dollars. On a thought, I called a paint store after I got home and they had it for 39 dollars in a single 5-gallon can. So, I bought this and will return the stuff to the borg. Now I have to figure out a way to keep the blanks from floating in the DNA.
The best of the blanks will have to be stabilized.
As for the bowl blanks, I turned one, but large chunks of the soggy dead part pulled out. They will make very colorful bowls if the weak parts can be strengthened. Will that happen as they dry, or must they also be stabilized?
Thanks,
Joe