Anchor Seal alternatives

[Anchor Sarslow]

As I dont have a readily available source for AnchorSeal, I was wondering if any of these alternatives wil lfunction in its place?

Johnsons paste wax or Food Grade Parafin.

[Tom Sherman]

Anchor I see no reason you couldn't use the parafin, just heat it to melting and either paint it on or dip the ends into it. Don't think the paste wax would be the trick.

[Jeff Bower]

Anchor I've had pretty good success with a couple coats of latex paint. Can't see the grain obviously, but cheap "oops" cans at the borgs have worked well for me.

[Brett Baldwin]

The parafin should work fine. Most of the bowl blanks I see at Woodworkers Source are covered in it.

[Ron McKinley]

Ordinary yellow glue works as well as Anchorseal.....Ron

[George Guadiane]

The parafin should work fine. Most of the bowl blanks I see at Woodworkers Source are covered in it.
I use the largest second hand frying pan/griddle that I can find, I melt wax in it and set flat end grain into it, just enough to cover the ends and come up a little bit...
I like to let the wood sit there for a moment and warm up. I THINK that the heat removes water and creates a mini vacuum which sucks the wax in (a little bit) for a tighter seal. Round blanks I roll the whole edge in the wax, same thing, SLOW roll.
I store everything small enough in banana boxes, that helps slow moisture loss, and the boxes stack very nicely, when well filled.
I sell wood and have done over 1000 blanks in this way, and maybe in the 3/4000 range. I've gotten good results like this.
I use clear wax, but any candles of any color will work, make sure the temp is in the safe range and that you are in a safe environment, if the wax gets too hot, it CAN just burst into flame (so they tell me), so I am pretty careful about it.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Anchor when I first started out I used latex paint I had left over from house painting. I would put a coat on let it dry and then add a second coat. I have a couple of bowl blanks a year old and no cracks.

[Matt Meiser]

Or if you don't have any leftover paint, hit up the local store for mistints. We found a gallon of a fun color we like for my daughter's play area in the basement for $5. They make mistakes all the time. I could have had 2 gallons of the shade next to the one I really wanted at Home Depot a few weeks ago for $5/ea when the guy misunderstood what I was pointing at.

[Anchor Sarslow]

I went with the parafin .. melted it in the oven in the aluminum bread tins at 350 degrees. I dipped most of the small ones but had to paint the 3 or 4 bigger pieces. Used a cheapy chip brush ..

I can then leave it cool down in the tin and re melt it again later.

I found my local Rockler carries a green wood sealer at 1 gallon for $20 and it is cold weather resistant . But that was 15 miles the opposite direction after work..

I like all of your suggestions.. I dont have any extra latex and the home fixit shop was in an out of the way direction too. Can you tell I really just wanted to get home today?


Thank you all.

[Nicholas Briggs]

Used latex paint on some freshly cut logs. Did two to three coats. Cracked all to heck.

[Richard Madison]

Paraffin is good. Wanting to get home is usually a good sign too!

[Keith Cope]

I have used oops paint as well with decent results--looks a little funny hauling brightly painted logs around, though.

Paraffin would work as well, but I would second George's caution--it WILL burst into flame if it gets too hot. Safest way to do it is a double boiler.

Keith

[George Guadiane]

I went with the parafin .. melted it in the oven in the aluminum bread tins at 350 degrees. I dipped most of the small ones but had to paint the 3 or 4 bigger pieces. Used a cheapy chip brush ..

Thank you all.
Anchor,
350 is TOO hot... If anything happens to distract you, and the wax sits at that heat too long, it could burst into flames, and the melted wax is also making fumes that could add to the "fun," and/or cooling as a film on anything in the area.
The recommended temperature range is 120 to 210 F... If you are just going to store it in the melting container, the double boiler idea is a good one.
I still like the electric frying pan idea because:

There is no open flame
The temperature is fairly controllable :o
They are usually sturdy enough to hold the weight of whatever will fit on the surface. :)
They have a cover that can be used in case of fire :eek:
You can set it up where you want to work and melt the wax there, then let it cool - reduces the chance of spillage, and certainly on spillage between where you melt the wax and where you use it. :D
I buy them second hand at garage sales for $5 to $10 dollars each (you could probably find them at Salvation Army/Thrift stores in the same price range) :cool:Sorry to seem like a bully on this, but safety and no wax in the carpets is more important than saving a few bucks, and unfortunately more important than saving a few pieces of wood (at MY house, at least).

[Clem Wixted]

Anchor,

I use both Anchorseal and paraffin wax with similar results. The Anchorseal is the easiest and least messy way to go.

I heat the wax OUTSIDE and get it very hot, almost smoking, using a yard sale electric fry pan. I hold the piece in the wax, up the sides about an inch, until it steams a little while the wax is absorbed into the wood. I have tried to brush the warm wax onto cold wood and when handling the wood the wax has crcked off. It doesn't work into the cold wood. The heat and dunk method makes the wax pretty secure on the wood.

Clem

[Tom Collins]

I work with a young lady who is recovering from severe burns she received when the parifin she was melting to use for sealing jelly jars ignited.

Why not have something like Anchorseal sent to your res. I ordered a 5 gallon bucket from Bailey's. Ended up around $12 per gallon including shipping. I pour a little in an old aluminum pot, brush on what I need with a paint brush, return the unused portion to the container, rinse the pot and brush out with water and I'm good to go.

Tom C

[John Shuk]

Our turning club does bulk buys of Anchor seal and it works out nicely. They buy a drum and dole it out at the meetings by the gallon.

[Greg Savage]

Our turning club does bulk buys of Anchor seal and it works out nicely. They buy a drum and dole it out at the meetings by the gallon.

That's the way to do it! You can buy it directly from Anchorseal....A 5 gal pail cost @$57 with shipping. .....or.....you can get a 2gal supply for $38......+shipping.

https://www.uccoatings.com/

[Bill Hunt]

If you have a forestry supplier in you area they should have end grain wood sealer in 5 gal buckets. I get mine from Forestry Suppliers Inc. in Jackson MS for $40.00 per 5 gal. It's called Waxlor end grain wood sealer.

Bill Hunt