Cart of logs -- sealing question

[Jamie Straw]

Oh, my, had trouble with getting pictures at bottom instead of top. Anyways, a couple of trees fell into my lap this week, and parts of them are cut and sealed. The big-leaf maple was a trunk that split from its siblings, so the biggest pieces have heartwood showing. A smaller piece has been stripped of bark and cambium is revealed. Questions are: Do I need to paint the heartwood also, or can I pack it in damp shavings? (will be a few weeks before I do anything with these big pieces). Does the cambium need to be sealed on the "naked" log (small diameter)? Didn't have any Anchorseal in the shop, so I used leftover road paint from the local graduation festivities. Thanks!

 

[john lucas]

I try to seal all end grain. I've used Anchorseal, roofing tar, paint, old glue, parrafin wax, stretch wrap plastic, and even garbage bags. All of them work to some degree or another. Mostly now I use Stretch wrap or Anchorseal on larger pieces and dip the smaller pieces (10" or less) in melted Parrafin wax. I don't try to isolate areas like the heartwood or cambium layer, I just paint it all.

 

[Dean Center]

If your goal is to turn it green later, placing in a 'contractor' grade plastic bag and folding over the top will work, too. In my circumstance, under a tarp and/or buried in shavings don't work as well, but in your maritime environment, those might be just fine.

 

[Kendall Northern]

I also seal everything. Nothing beats paraffin on the smaller pieces on the bigger stuff if my goal is to keep it wet I seal with anchor seal and then use the stretch wrap they sell at u haul to wrap it.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

I also seal everything. Nothing beats paraffin on the smaller pieces on the bigger stuff if my goal is to keep it wet I seal with anchor seal and then use the stretch wrap they sell at u haul to wrap it.

Kendall, if you have an Amazon account you can get a roll of pallet wrap for $12-13. It's 15" x 2000'. Dirt cheap and very strong. We buy bulk for our warehouse operations but it's a he same stuff. Very stretchy and tough. We wrap probably 300 pallets a day with it.

Uline also sells it as do the other companies like it.

 

[Owen Lowe]

Mostly now I use Stretch wrap or Anchorseal on larger pieces and dip the smaller pieces (10" or less) in melted Parrafin wax.

Jamie,
Nobody has mentioned how to do the melted wax, so here’s my method: At Goodwill or any thrift shop or yard sale, buy one of those West Bend 12†square, 2-3†deep fryer/griddles. Dedicate this to wax melting and wood dipping. Whenever you have candle stubs after the holidays, old Crayons, snag some yard sale pillar candles, etc, drop them into the griddle. Cleanliness is the least of your concerns, so don’t worry about wicks, paper labels, the odd match remains - dipping the wood will add all sorts of particulate matter to the wax. In the attached pic, left of center, you can see some trapped La Brea Wax Pit carcass of something.

Melt the wax at about 300-350 and dip each end of the wood for about 5 seconds. Usually I double-dip for a much shorter immersion after the first has hardened. You’ll end up with the ends plus about 2 inches of side grain sealed up - no need to fully coat the whole chunk as long as the ends plus a little of the sides are sealed.

But wait, that’s not all! Turning shavings, paper egg cartons, and melted wax makes great fire-starters.

 

[Hy Tran]

I'm sorry, but that wood is hazardous to your (wallet's) health.

You will have to dispose of it.

I will be happy to safely get rid of that wood for you. Just ship it to me, and I will make sure that it is safely disposed of.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

I'm sorry, but that wood is hazardous to your (wallet's) health.

You will have to dispose of it.

I will be happy to safely get rid of that wood for you. Just ship it to me, and I will make sure that it is safely disposed of.

Hy,

We simply cannot express how thoughtful it is of you to take one for the team and risk your personal well-being.

By the way, I take it you made it safely back home?

 

[Hy Tran]

Hy,

We simply cannot express how thoughtful it is of you to take one for the team and risk your personal well-being.

By the way, I take it you made it safely back home?

Yes, made it back to our house ~midnight. Back at work today and tomorrow.

Glad to have met you in person and associated a name with a face. Saw you at the back of Mark Baker's demo of a lidded vessel (that was an awesome demo!), and I apologize for the lighting (even though all my accidental button pushing didn't do anything to the room lights).

Hy

 

[Jamie Straw]

Hah, hah!

I'm sorry, but that wood is hazardous to your (wallet's) health.

You will have to dispose of it.

I will be happy to safely get rid of that wood for you. Just ship it to me, and I will make sure that it is safely disposed of.

Oh, my, I lost track of this thread. It's amazing how many well-meaning and altruistic offers I get when it comes to the dangerous wood I collect.

 

[Jamie Straw]

Like the "dedicated dipper" idea

[snip] ...buy one of those West Bend 12†square, 2-3†deep fryer/griddles. Dedicate this to wax melting and wood dipping. Whenever you have candle stubs after the holidays, old Crayons, snag some yard sale pillar candles, etc, drop them into the griddle. [snip]
Melt the wax at about 300-350 and dip each end of the wood for about 5 seconds. Usually I double-dip for a much shorter immersion after the first has hardened. [snip] But wait, that’s not all! Turning shavings, paper egg cartons, and melted wax makes great fire-starters.

Great idea to have a dedicated wood-coating appliance. I started out years ago using wax, but it seemed so expensive! We dare not use candles in the house, since we live with monster-kitties who would knock them down. Where's your best value in purchased wax? Tried my hand at the firestarters, a rather so-so result. We use 3 or 4 boxes of these over our long, damp winters (October - May!). They catch really fast and far out-perform my homemade ones. Egg carton's a good idea, just light the cardboard, eh?, and off goes the wax n' shavings.

 

[Bill Boehme]

A lot of woodturning clubs buy Anchorseal in 55 gallon drums and then members can fill smaller containers. Our club uses havy duty gallon containers. We discovered that plastic milk jugs are a bad idea as they don't hold up for more than a few months depending on environment where they are stored. I use gallon size Gatorade jugs which are very heavy duty.

It is far less trouble than messing around with melting melting canning wax, candles, etc.

 

[Owen Lowe]

Great idea to have a dedicated wood-coating appliance. I started out years ago using wax, but it seemed so expensive! We dare not use candles in the house, since we live with monster-kitties who would knock them down. Where's your best value in purchased wax?

Purchased!?
If push comes to shove, yard sales usually have used pillar candles and bundles of dining candles for fitty-cents...

But spread the word that you’ll take any old and odd candles and wax from friends and neighbors, tell your church friends you’ll recycle the altar candles, then tell your local elementary school teachers you’d love to take the broken, wrapper-less, nubbins of crayons off their hands. Won’t be too long until you have more than you know what to do with!

 

[Jamie Straw]

Color-coded lumber, I like it!

Purchased!?
If push comes to shove, yard sales usually have used pillar candles and bundles of dining candles for fitty-cents...

But spread the word that you’ll take any old and odd candles and wax from friends and neighbors, tell your church friends you’ll recycle the altar candles, then tell your local elementary school teachers you’d love to take the broken, wrapper-less, nubbins of crayons off their hands. Won’t be too long until you have more than you know what to do with!

Cool, I'll go for it! I can just see the new system for turning stock "Red is for Maple, Brown is for Alder, Pink is for Cherry, Green is for Madrone...." There's a Facebook thing for various parts of the Island called "Buy Nothing Bainbridge" (regionally divided, I'm in BNB North) -- I can put the word out there that I'm looking for old crayons and candles, and probably get 100 pounds in a month! People offload all kinds of stuff, from baby clothes to furniture, part of a community effort to buy less and redistribute, and most of them have kids. [Actually, that's where I got the lead on the cartload of maple that started this thread; tree fell down, property owner posted on BNB North, and I was there in 30 minutes.]

 

[Owen Lowe]

Cool, I'll go for it! I can just see the new system for turning stock "Red is for Maple, Brown is for Alder, Pink is for Cherry, Green is for Madrone...." There's a Facebook thing for various parts of the Island called "Buy Nothing Bainbridge" (regionally divided, I'm in BNB North) -- I can put the word out there that I'm looking for old crayons and candles, and probably get 100 pounds in a month! People offload all kinds of stuff, from baby clothes to furniture, part of a community effort to buy less and redistribute, and most of them have kids. [Actually, that's where I got the lead on the cartload of maple that started this thread; tree fell down, property owner posted on BNB North, and I was there in 30 minutes.]

Nice wood gloat. BNB sounds cool - I have a saved Craigslist search for free stuff in my area, but it’s not all that useful.

You’ll notice that my sealing wax is a beautiful shade of red; it also has a wonderful floral scent, which you can’t tell from the photo, that adds a nice touch to my storage room.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Nice wood gloat. BNB sounds cool - I have a saved Craigslist search for free stuff in my area, but it’s not all that useful.

You’ll notice that my sealing wax is a beautiful shade of red; it also has a wonderful floral scent, which you can’t tell from the photo, that adds a nice touch to my storage room.

Mine is red too .Even when you put in white or green or clear (paraffin) it is still a shade of red unless you dilute tremendously . Some time with very wet wood like maple the wax does seem to fall off (best word I could think of) . Could be caused by too much handling?

 

[Owen Lowe]

Mine is red too .Even when you put in white or green or clear (paraffin) it is still a shade of red unless you dilute tremendously . Some time with very wet wood like maple the wax does seem to fall off (best word I could think of) . Could be caused by too much handling?

Gerald, sometimes the wax separates from my pieces too; I think it might be the moisture inside. When I dip, it’s kind of like deep frying the ends - a lot of little frying bubbles dance around. That’s why I usually let it “cook†for 10 seconds or more on the first dip. I think this drives out some of the moisture in the ends and helps with adhesion.

Jamie, dipping, Anchorseal-ing, painting, etc. is not a cure-all. Often, you will still get severe drying cracks no matter the method used, end coating is just buying you some time.

 

[Jamie Straw]

Will check with Olympic this month!

A lot of woodturning clubs buy Anchorseal in 55 gallon drums and then members can fill smaller containers. Our club uses havy duty gallon containers. We discovered that plastic milk jugs are a bad idea as they don't hold up for more than a few months depending on environment where they are stored. I use gallon size Gatorade jugs which are very heavy duty.

It is far less trouble than messing around with melting melting canning wax, candles, etc.

I'm going to the Olympic chapter meeting this month, so I'll check with them. I can get various heavy plastic containers either at the horse stables or at one of the restaurants in town. I also like the idea of the plastic pallet wrap for something that's split down the middle like the maple in my cart. Thanks!