End sealing

[Rich Stewart]

I'm curious about how much of this anchorseal/wax/latex painting the ends of wood is really necessary. I'm not doing any extensive research on it but I have done this to a cherry log 5 in dia. and to an oak log about 5 in dia. I just put the log in my shop unsealed on the ends. When I decided to turn it I had cracks on the ends of the logs. I cut about 3/4 inch off the ends and the wood there was fine. I rough turned it, DNA'd it and everything worked fine. No splitting, no cracking. Maybe I cut an inch off each end. So, other than throwing away 2 inches of wood I don't really see any drawbacks. Anybody else tried this on other types of wood?

[Christopher K. Hartley]

I'm curious about how much of this anchorseal/wax/latex painting the ends of wood is really necessary. I'm not doing any extensive research on it but I have done this to a cherry log 5 in dia. and to an oak log about 5 in dia. I just put the log in my shop unsealed on the ends. When I decided to turn it I had cracks on the ends of the logs. I cut about 3/4 inch off the ends and the wood there was fine. I rough turned it, DNA'd it and everything worked fine. No splitting, no cracking. Maybe I cut an inch off each end. So, other than throwing away 2 inches of wood I don't really see any drawbacks. Anybody else tried this on other types of wood?My experience with oak is that the longer you leave it the deeper the cracks will go:)

[John Hart]

Rich...When I had a ton of wood in a pile and didn't know anything about sealing, about half of the pieces would crack and the other half would show no signs of ever cracking. Sometimes the cracking was deep and other times, very shallow.

When I used the anchorseal, I had more like a 95% success rate rather than 50%. So...it's not so much that the sealing is absolutely necessary...it's more for consistancy sake. In my most humble opinion of course!:)

[John Miliunas]

Rich, I'm another proponent for Anchor Seal or the Woodcraft branded End Sealer. I think both really boost the odds in your favor. However, what I've also used in a pinch, as well as an effort to "recycle" is, old latex paint. Most households have leftover paint from the time before the last color change and using it to seal ends of logs works pretty well! :D Not quite as high a success rate as the other two, though that may also depend on the consistency of the latex used. Don't know for sure... Of course, YMMV! :D :cool:

[Jim Becker]

Remember, the purpose of the "sealer" is to regulate the moisture loss which can be very fast through end-grain. That moisture loss is what causes the cracking as the ends shrink faster than the interior. Anchorseal and similar products are wax emulsions that slow the rate of moisture loss and thus help to reduce the chance of cracking when you still have a big thick hunk of wood in question.

DNA is generally used (if you use it) to solve this issue with rough-turned forms. It draws out the water molecules in a different way than just letting them wander out into the air world...and in turn, cracking is reduced.

[Rich Stewart]

Thanks fellas. Was just curious about it. My wife won't let me have a bunch of wood laying around as we have a small yard and she is a very tidy person. Think Felix Unger. I buy most of my wood from ebay and such. Got any deals John?

[Gary DeWitt]

You could still bring home just one or two "logs", meaning pieces of trunk or branch already cut near length, at a time and rough turn them before they crack or get in your wife's way...
I've had more cracks develop in fruit tree wood than any other, and faster.

[John Hart]

....Got any deals John?

kinda out of the wood selling business for now Rich....sorry. I have about 400 pieces of turning stock sitting under a tarp in Cleveland that I have yet to move to the new house. I'm still scrambling to get settled so it'll be a couple months before I'm ready to put boxes of wood together again. But I'll let you know!:)

[Bernie Weishapl]

Rich I am like John M. I also use latex paint. I bought some anchorseal and had some latex paint laying around. I happen to get some elm wood so decided to experiment. I painted half of them with 2 coats of latex paint and the other half with anchorseal. In my case I can't tell the difference after 4 months. Both seem to be holding down the cracks rather well. Just my $1.298.

By the way Rich I am like you if I want something other than Ash, Locust, Elm, or occasional walnut I have go to ebay and buy.

[George Tokarev]

Maybe I cut an inch off each end. So, other than throwing away 2 inches of wood I don't really see any drawbacks. Anybody else tried this on other types of wood?

All the time. As you have observed, end checks are largely self-limiting. When the wood at the end is dry enough to shelter and slow the loss from the wetter interior, end checks cease. Got a winter's worth of wood on the pile now which dried a season demonstating just that, but it's for burning, not turning. Have next winter's wood on another pile, in the log, where the end checks are being held to a minimum by the cold weather. I'll take pieces off the ones I want to turn, trim below the current end checks, then verify I've gone far enough by wiping with liquid and examining for areas where cracks which might have closed due to recent humid conditions reveal themselves by capillary wicking. Trim more if you see them, and you're at sound wood.

Oak and other woods with prominent ray figure can be yet another problem. Those rays, as anyone who splits firewood can tell you, are planes of weakness, and will often open even deep in the log. The lumbermen call it "honeycomb," and it can ruin your day. Be especially careful of such woods. The http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/ site and wood handbook have information on difficult to dry woods which might help you decide if you want to end seal.

The real pain are the radial checks that can develop even under loose bark, and can run from there right to the center if you aren't careful. When the bark starts getting loose, it's time to change the game from turning wood to burning wood.

With a bit of experience you'll find that species and figure affect the depth of end checks, giving you an idea of how much you should trim to make your initial look for depth of checks. Other thing, as mentioned, is the relative humidity the wood has experienced. Covering the end grain, whether it's with a newspaper wrap after roughing or wax whenever slows surface loss to a rate which can be replaced by moisture coming from the interior, evening out the drying process. Don't want too big a difference.