Sealing Green Wood

[GA Darling]

I picked up some beech logs late yesterday afternoon and planned on getting them sealed this morning. However, to my disgust, I forgot that I was out of Anchor seal. Some dummy forgot to buy some more. It's a 100 mile round trip to any place that sells any type of green wood sealer around here. I understand that latex paint can be used. Is this true? What about something like Thompson's water seal?
It's going to be a couple of weeks now before I can do anything with the logs. I slipped on some ice and wenched my lower back last night. Just what I didn't need.

GA Darling

 

[MichaelMouse]

Beech is about as nasty-behaving wood as you'll find. Leave in the log for the winter, harvesting as you can rough it. Good luck. It's the only wood that I have any problem drying in the rough, and from the forestry sites, I'm not alone. It's even a thrill in the kiln. Probably why American beech isn't much used for anything but pallets and pulp.

If you let it spalt, it'll end up behaving better overall, but only the sapwood will color. Does look pretty when you do it, but the unspalted stuff's pretty undramatic.

 

[Barbara Gill]

If I was out of Anchorseal I would probably either use a tar roof product or mix bees wax and turpentine carefully in a double boiler so that it can be brushed. I understand that toilet rings are no longer bees wax but that is what I would use any way. I make a belt dressing out of the above plus rosin so I know the toilet ring works.

I know a lot of people like the latex paint but I have never been a fan of using it.

 

[Keith Burns]

I use parrifin wax and melt it on with a butane torch. Wax is $10.00 for 10# at ther Hobby stores.

 

[john lucas]

I had much better luck with roofing tar and parrafin than I did Latex paint. I tried a lot of stuff before I broke down and bought the anchorseal. I thought wax was better than anchorseal but I just never had a good way to apply it. roofing tar was just too messy but not to expensive and easily attainable. To apply the paraffin I shaved it of with my knife and then melted it with a torch. I was going to try to melt it in a pan but logs were too big and most of the time I prefer to do it in the field when I'm cutting the wood.

 

[dkulze]

I highly recommend saran wrap. It does an excellent job for short term sealing. It's only problem is that it seals too well to use for long term. You can try a couple of layers of newspaper before the saran wrap and that may help with reducing spalting, unless you don't mind the spalting.

Much cleaner and easier than roofing tar, beeswax, or any other commercial surface treatment.

Dietrich

 

[Malcolm Smith]

Interesting. One of the finest woods is European red Beech. That's what very high quality work benches are made of it. I wonder what the relationship with American beech is.

Malcolm Smith.

 

[Dave Roller]

Interesting. One of the finest woods is European red Beech. That's what very high quality work benches are made of it. I wonder what the relationship with American beech is.

Malcolm Smith.

Beech me!

No one mentioned the Green Wood End Sealer from Woodcraft. I'd be interested in feedback from anyone having used it.

 

[Barbara Gill]

The Woodcraft product is pretty much the same as Anchorseal just more expensive.

I love sawing beech. Over the years I have sawn thousands of bd.ft. and have found it to be pretty stable. I usually quarter/rift saw it as the fine ray fleck is very attractive. Right now I would love to get my hands on a large log as the plane makers love it.

The top of my workbench made during my flatwork days is made of beech.

 

[GA Darling]

The Woodcraft product is pretty much the same as Anchorseal just more expensive.

I love sawing beech. Over the years I have sawn thousands of bd.ft. and have found it to be pretty stable. I usually quarter/rift saw it as the fine ray fleck is very attractive. Right now I would love to get my hands on a large log as the plane makers love it.

The top of my workbench made during my flatwork days is made of beech.

I know where you can get a roughly 40' log. Being a professional sawyer you wouldn't want it though. It was grown in the city along the street. Most sawyers won't touch a tree from the city because of the possibility of nails being in the wood.
Anyhow, I thought I would let you all know what I decided to do as far as sealing the ends. I made a trip to the local Hobby Lobby and bought a 10# block of parrifin wax. I melted it with a torch and painted it on. By the way, the parrifin wax cost $13.38. I'll be in the big city before I get a chance to cut the logs so I will get my Anchorseal and be ready.

 

[Clem Wixted]

I use Anchorseal and it works well. I also have tried using melted parafin or candle wax painted onto the ends of a log, without success. The wax would cool as soon as it was put on the wood and even the slightest bump would knock the wax off in loose pieces. It didn't protect the wood because it wasn't attached to the wood.

Then I read where some folks would use an old electric fry pan to really heat up the wax, OUTSIDE, for safety. They would hold the end of the wood piece in the wax for about 10 seconds and the wood would heat up and suck the wax into the wood at the end. I have tried this and it works very well. My wife has a lot of candle ends that I collect and melt for this purpose. The price is right. It is limited to wood that will fit into the pan. As John Lucas, and others, have done would be to melt wax onto the log end with a torch, which will not only melt the wax but also warm the wood and let the wax soak in.

Clem

 

[Barbara Gill]

My main reservation would be the distance to Ohio.
Operating a bandsaw mill does not restrict me as would a circular mill. I will saw a log that might have hardware in it if the rewards are great enough. OR, if the person I am sawing for wants to risk the blade damage charges.

 

[Gretch Flo]

metal in wood

Barbara-aren't there professional metal detectors that can be used in the log perifery???? Gretch

 

[Barbara Gill]

Gretch, there are but all it will tell you is that there is metal in the log and approx. where it is. The checking would have to be done before the log is loaded on the mill. Often there is a stain on the bottom end of a log that indicates there is metal somewhere.

I leave it up to my customers to check their logs for metal. They probably would not like paying me by the hour to do it for them. Each log would have to be scanned and rolled at least twice to get good coverage. Most logs do not contain any metal.

 

[Charlie Knighton]

stain

Often there is a stain on the bottom end of a log that indicates there is metal somewhere.

does the stain have any color of consistently when there is metal ???

rust color???

 

[Bill Boehme]

The stuff from Rockler's and Woodcraft is exactly the same thing as Anchorseal except for the price. The problem with melted paraffin is that it doesn't mix with the end grain fibers in the spring when the wood is really wet. It probably works much better at this time of the year. If you use latex paint, I think that exterior is better and I would slop it on really super thick -- not like you are painting with it.

 

[Bill Boehme]

does the stain have any color of consistently when there is metal ???

rust color???

Black and sometimes bluish black

 

[georgetroy]

Sealtite

I use the Green Wood sealer from Kingspor's called Sealtite. One gallon is $15.95 and 2 or more $10.95. It comes in one gal. plastic containers and you can decant or pour out instead of having a metal can with a lid. Shipping & Handling is only $6.99 that price is hard to beat anywhere go to: item# SK60000
www.woodworkingshop.com

 

[John Hill]

I have a barn FULL of wood that I sealed and didn’t get to for a while. Most of it cracked in time. I spent a lot of time and energy as well as expense in Anchor Seal trying to save it. Now it is fire wood.
I now don’t look at sealing wood as anything other than buying myself a couple of weeks. When I get it, I turn it either rough or turn to finish if appropriate. If you can, leave the log as long as possible. I put a 3 ply paper feed sack over the end. (any farmer will give you all that you want) You can use several layers of newspaper held on with tape around the log to hold it in place. This just slows down the drying. Turn it as soon as possible.

 

[georgetroy]

I have a barn FULL of wood that I sealed and didn’t get to for a while. Most of it cracked in time. I spent a lot of time and energy as well as expense in Anchor Seal trying to save it. Now it is fire wood.
I now don’t look at sealing wood as anything other than buying myself a couple of weeks. When I get it, I turn it either rough or turn to finish if appropriate. If you can, leave the log as long as possible. I put a 3 ply paper feed sack over the end. (any farmer will give you all that you want) You can use several layers of newspaper held on with tape around the log to hold it in place. This just slows down the drying. Turn it as soon as possible.

I have had good luck in saving my log stock by processing on band saw or chain saw. I cut excess length and split the log into at the pith. Your salvaged wood will be a lot more. Of course you seal the ends ASAP.

 

[waltben]

I've used Klingspoor's product for some time and it's quite good - big thing is it doesn't freeze in cold weather. I still use outdoor latex paint out in the woods tho, since I don't know what I'll want to save and seal once the logs are at home.

Neither of these or any other end grain sealers will stop checking unless you halve the logs once you get them home. If you just stack them up like unsplit firewood, that's what you'll end up with. Read any book on the properties of wood (R. Bruce Hoadley's "Understanding Wood" is the best I've found) and you'll see why. It's just the way wood was made and we've got to work around it.

 

[57_T-Bird]

Careful with candle wax

Torch or frypan for candlewax?
Careful.

Back in my candlemaking days I tired of the double boiler method of melting wax. Just used one pan on a gas stove.
.......until it turned into a blowtorch with 8' flame.
Fortunately, I was able to carry it out and sit it down and return to the house to quickly dampen the cabinet flames. Then a simple piece of plywood on top of the pan put out that blowtorch.

Now?
Maybe I still live dangerously, but now I use a electric deep fat fryer filled with wax (whatever is available, from candle stubs to canning wax to candle variety). However, I use it outside, sitting on a concrete slab well away from anything combustible. Those that will fit, I dunk. Larger pieces are coated with a paint brush.
The particular unit I use has a timer and thermostat. I run the thermostat as low as I can for good coating and for very short time periods.
Don't want another blowtorch.
But I also have found that hotter wax seems to stay on longer.

My blowtorch was ignited by the gas flames from the stove with the gas vapors spilling over from the heated wax.
I assume the electric heating element is safer. But I sure don't want to bet my life, house or shop on it.
So I'm not suggesting this method. Just reporting it.
Do not use melted wax w/o understanding that it is indeed a fuel and should be treated as such.

T-Bird

 

[Bill Boehme]

When it reaches its flash point, it doesn't matter too much what the source of heat is (gas, electricity, coal).

 

[waltben]

The great thing about latex paint is that it doesn't have to be heated (same with Anchorseal or Klingspoor). Home Depot or Lowe's has a rack of mistake paint, usually on sale for $5 per gallon - who cares what color the end of a log is!

 

[Ed_McDonnell]

The great thing about latex paint is that it doesn't have to be heated (same with Anchorseal or Klingspoor). Home Depot or Lowe's has a rack of mistake paint, usually on sale for $5 per gallon - who cares what color the end of a log is!

I used up all the old paint I had around the house. I didn't really care about the color of the wood, but I eventually found it annoying to not be able to see the grain in the wood. We get a lot of highly figured wood here in Florida and I like to be able to see the end grain when I'm choosing a piece for a project. Still had a lot of checking with the paint.

I used yellow wood glue (thinned with water) for a while and had pretty good success with that. It required 2 or three coats, but it dried pretty quickly between coats. I could easily seal wood in less than a day. It also dried pretty clear so you could see the end grain. After dilution is factored in, it worked out to about $6 a gallon. Much ess checking than the paint, but still enough to cause me to consider another alternative.

Lately I've been using anchorseal. It really darkens some wood so many woods start to look the same after they have been sealed. It also seems to take forever to dry. Sealing all sides of a turning blank is a two day project. It costs 2 to 3 times as much as the wood glue alternative. Don't have enough experience with it to determine if it will be more effective with the checking and cracking than paint or glue.

Ed

 

[Barbara Gill]

It is the humidity that causes the slow drying. I sometimes have that problem during the summer especially during periods of wet misty weather here in VA.

 

[MichaelMouse]

Lately I've been using anchorseal. It really darkens some wood so many woods start to look the same after they have been sealed. It also seems to take forever to dry. Sealing all sides of a turning blank is a two day project. It costs 2 to 3 times as much as the wood glue alternative. Don't have enough experience with it to determine if it will be more effective with the checking and cracking than paint or glue.

Ed

The reason why I still have over half of my first gallon around, Ed. Slowed evaporation even from the outside endgrain, which is all that needs coating, so far that it mildewed. That black mildew will make a lovely piece of wood look like it has leprosy. If I wanted that, I'd have boxed it with shavings.

End coating means never worrying about the RH. Of course, it exacts a price in dry time and possible degrade. I'd rather follow my hygrometer.

 

[Maia007]

I melt paraffin outside on a coleman stove in a 12" cast iron skillet and using very low heat. Ends are dunked.

Pay attention to boiling wax, it can catch afire.

 

[Owen Lowe]

I melt paraffin outside on a coleman stove in a 12" cast iron skillet and using very low heat. Ends are dunked.

Pay attention to boiling wax, it can catch afire.

Using an open flame seems pretty risky. Even safer is to pick up one of those 12" square shallow Teflon fryer/skillets at a thrift store or yard sale -- mine cost all of $3. My wife brings home yard sale candles and my daughter contributes her broken crayons to add to the soup.

I heat the wax using the temp control to the 350 degree mark - when I dip the wood, it sizzles and bubbles. I let it "cook" for 5 or 10 seconds - let it cool and then quick dip again. It not only does a fantastic job on smaller pieces but looks pretty to boot! Wax soup is pink at the moment. I don't worry a bit about the bark chunks, metal wick keepers, wicks, crayon paper or what not in the wax.

Larger logs have to be painted with AnchorSeal - which works fine for me. Brushing the melted wax never worked on my stuff - I think the wax cooled too quickly once applied - or the wood moisture inhibited a good seal.

 

[Bill Hunt]

Check your phone book to see if there is a forestry supplier in the area. I buy 5 gal. end grain sealer from Forestry Suppliers in Jackson MS for about $40.00 Same stuff you're paying $15.00+ per gal. at Woodcraft and other places. May be higher since I haven't bought any for a while now.
Bill Hunt