I have been sealing with Anchorseal but wondered if plain latex paint might be useful. Sometimes Lowe's has paint returned for whatever reason. Cheaper than Anchorseal. Your thoughts or experience?
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Sealing ends with paint?
- Thread starter John Torchick
- Start date
Yup I do that on occaision with left over paint, it works and at times an old spray pack of varnish works just as well. I find to great way to get rid of the remnants of painting, instead having those old tins with too much to throw away in 
john lucas
AAW Forum Expert
Not in my tests. I did what I call long term tests. I seatled pieces with a variety of things from roofing tar and house paint to parrafin wax, anchorseal, stretch wrap, plastic and anything else I had. That was before people started using wood glue so that wasn't included. Anyway I watched all of these pieces for a tear or more. Anchorseal,parrafin wax and roofing tar won although the tar was simply too messy. Stretch wrap started breaking down after 6 months or so. The wood under the house paint ( i used 3 coats of latex exterior paint) was starting to crack. Plastic garbage bags deteriorated and caused lots of mold. Very good for short term storage. I use these when cutting cherry because it will start to crack within 5 minutes of being cut. The garbage bags give me enough time to take my time sealing them properly.
These were all logs cut in half through the pith abd stored in a building on shelves.
These were all logs cut in half through the pith abd stored in a building on shelves.
John, thanks for sharing your experiment. A vote for Anchorseal or paraffin. Isn't AS paraffin based?
My experience is similar to John’s. Anchor Seal is far more effective than latex paint.
I was fairly pleased with an experiment using a thick coat of white glue and then sticking gloss paper from women’s clothing catalogs to the glue. But I did not expose the blocks to the weather. A flat roof paint that has a flexible additive would be a better product than just latex paint.
I haven’t tried white glue, but I’ve known some folks who use old wood glue just slightly watered down as a sealer with pretty good results. Worth a shot if you, like me, bought the big bottle, but can’t seem to use it fast enough before it starts to get a little lumpy.
Saw one video where TB3 was used.
I had a bunch of half rounds and used glue thinned with a little water to coat the ends until I could rough them out. After roughing out, I used Anchorseal on the entire blank.
I prefer the Anchorseal. Both worked but the glue made any splintered wood sharp needles. It also took a lot longer to dry. I could put a wet Anchorseal blank with it touching another blank and they wouldn’t be glue together. I can’t imagine coating the entire blank with glue.
My opinion, if I had just one blank, either is fine. For several, Anchorseal wins hands down. And cleanup is easier. YMMV.
I prefer the Anchorseal. Both worked but the glue made any splintered wood sharp needles. It also took a lot longer to dry. I could put a wet Anchorseal blank with it touching another blank and they wouldn’t be glue together. I can’t imagine coating the entire blank with glue.
My opinion, if I had just one blank, either is fine. For several, Anchorseal wins hands down. And cleanup is easier. YMMV.
I didn’t do a controlled experiment, but concur with others comments about latex not doing well.
~15yrs ago I sealed up a bunch of walnut with latex paint (2coats). Lots of cracking by the time I was sealing up some more walnut logs a year or so later, I used AnchorSeal the next time and didn’t have nearly as much cracking. That was the original AnchorSeal, before they changed the formulation. After AnchorSeal changed I read many comments about it not working as well, but I’ve been generally happy with it UNTIL some ~4”x4”x24” white oak blanks I coated last fall - just noticed major cracking
~15yrs ago I sealed up a bunch of walnut with latex paint (2coats). Lots of cracking by the time I was sealing up some more walnut logs a year or so later, I used AnchorSeal the next time and didn’t have nearly as much cracking. That was the original AnchorSeal, before they changed the formulation. After AnchorSeal changed I read many comments about it not working as well, but I’ve been generally happy with it UNTIL some ~4”x4”x24” white oak blanks I coated last fall - just noticed major cracking