Mini Gloat/Need advice

[Nicholas Briggs]

A friend of mine just cut down his 100 year old walnut tree. These are two chunks he cut for me. The big one measures 12x5x4. Not sure what to do with them yet, maybe bowls, or a few pens.

My questions is; How to season them? Just rollem in paper bags and leave'em for a while? He also gave me two much larger pieces, about 2'x8"x4". I don't have any end sealer, and someone told me to use latex paint before, but that turned out to be a disaster. Any suggestions?


http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i95/nethowler/Picture020.jpg

[Jim Becker]

Coat the end-grain with Anchorseal or hot paraffin and put them on a shelf. If you plan on using any for pens, those blanks should be cut and allowed to completely dry before turning. For anything else, you can turn it now or later and it doesn't have to be dry.

[George Guadiane]

Coat the end-grain with Anchorseal or hot paraffin and put them on a shelf. If you plan on using any for pens, those blanks should be cut and allowed to completely dry before turning. For anything else, you can turn it now or later and it doesn't have to be dry.
Hot paraffin - use an old electric frying pan, you know the ones with a cover, and heat up old candles, ANYTHING in a candle or go to the grocery or hardware store and get Gulf wax - canning paraffin. dip the ends in and let them sit for a few seconds then let the excess wax drip off and do the other end. Cut it like you are going to use it, for pen blanks, sooner rather than later, they will dry faster, for bowls or vases, as is will be fine.
You COULD use a little pan to melt wax and pour it on, I'm not sure it would do a good job, but if you then took an old iron and melted the wax into the end grain, it should be fine... I do that on pieces too big to fit into my frying pans.:eek:

[Doug M Jones]

I've used a cheap paint brush and melted the paraffin in an old bean can sitting in boiling water on the stove. When you get the paraffin hot it will burn you easily so be careful. When painted onto wood it will harden almost instantly but be careful to use light coats or it will run off onto your clothes or shoes or the floor DAMHIKT. Best to do it outside so any run off will not mess up SWMBO's kitchen.

[Nicholas Briggs]

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll have to look for some paraffin at the grocery store. For now, I have some end grain sealer coming from craft supply. http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/store/Finishing___Wood_Treatment___Woodsealer___woodseal er?Args=

Think this stuff should work?

[Mat Ashton]

Hi Nick

When I lived in Canada my brother was an arborist. And he used to off load all sorts of woods on me that were quite rare. I had a good sized freezer that I would put the more exotic pieces in. When you have very large pieces even sealing them they tend to crack over time. When frozen they can be kept like that for decades if need be without worry of cracking. I used to have whole logs in the freezer at times. It's by far the best way I've found to keep wood from cracking in the short terma nd long term.