Sealing the ends of wood

[don716]

I found a beautiful spalted maple tree yesterday and I brought part of the trunk home. My question is where can I find something to seal off the ends to prevent cracking?I called my local hardware store but they had no idea what I was talking about.Someone said use anchorseal.,but where do you find it?,or is there something else I can use?

Donny

[Rum Pig]

Hi Don716

I know there is something made specifically for this job but I do not know what it is called or were to get it from. But I use normal paint and I found premier paint to be better but free paint is best. I think the theory is anything that slows down the moister loss from the end grains.
Hope this has helped

[Rookie]

I've used some left over acrylic paint before, which worked okay but left for a long time it became extremely hard and to turn off the end grain blunted the chisels a bit.

Now I use wax. I went to priceline and bought the biggest, cheapest container of leg wax I could find. The stuff ladies use to de-hair their legs. Pretty cheap it was. I melt it in an old oven tray and paint it on with an old brush. Ifthe log is small enough you can just dip it instead of painting it. Wait until it's really hot and runny as it paints on thinner, but be careful heating wax. Try to use an open container like an oven tray rather than a billy or saucepan where the heat is contained. If your wife has a wax pot, even better, but try and get it back inside before she notices.

[hughie]

Donny,

Pretty well any thing will do, you can go out and buy the various propriety sealers and they all work fine.

Or look around your workshop for any old paint, oil paint would most likely be the best. Although I have used el cheapo acrylic with a little PVA glue and it worked fine[ 5-1 roughly].

A buddy of mine who runs a major Billiard/Snooker table making business uses watered down PVA glue. This for him is the most cost effective method far cheaper than various sealers aorund. I gather he mixes it to be just thicker than milk

Any old varnish,Boiled linseed oil, what ever you have that can seal the ends. Mineral Turpentine and Polystyrene will produce a real good thick goo that seal very well.

[Gil Jones]

Donny,
Call the 800-number at U.C.Coatings Corp, and ask them to send you a free quart of Anchorseal (clear) to try [1-800-363-2628], or email them at [email protected]. They are very good about that, and you will like it as it works well. It is a paraffin wax emulsion. They sell it in 1-gallon, 5-gallon, and 55-gallon sizes.
https://www.uccoatings.com/prod_anchorseal.php
If you are nearby in Georgia (I am south of Donalsonville), we have it in a 55-gal drum at our turning club in Tallahassee, FL, and sell it for $5 for1-gallon, or $25 for 5-gallons. Or drop by and I will sell you a gallon for $5.

[SawDustSniffer]

i use polyurathane and thinners ( any type ) or car body deadner ( free tin )
,im in howard springs if you need some

[thefixer]

I use styrofoam dissolved in acrylic paint thinner. It takes about 1 litre of thinner to make 2 litres of a clear but thick sort of paint. It seals the end grain nicely and you can still see the color of the wood through it. The thinner is cheap and we geat heaps of styrofoam at work. It beats having it end up in landfill.

Cheers
Shorty

[Woodlee]

I use bondcrete slightly diluted ,its a pva additive for concrete .

Good to see some more Territory members here btw.

Kev

[WillBrook]

I use a product called "Endcheck" which is a wax based emulsion/paint designed for just this purpose.

[Greg Q]

I'll try to find a link to a US Forest Products Assoc study from Fine Woodworking about 20 years back. In it various coatings were tested for resistance to moisture penetration. I recall that boiled linseed oil needed something like 12 dried coats to afford minimal protection. Two coats of poly on the other hand was the most effective of the common sealers.

For end grain the anchorseal is reputed to be very good. Lumber mills usually rely on whatever pigment rich paint they can get. The more solids the better. Benjamin Moore if they sell it in Georgia.

Greg

[BobL]

i use polyurathane and thinners ( any type ) or car body deadner ( free tin )
,im in howard springs if you need some

He SDS, do you realize that don716 is in Georgia in the good ole USA?

[mjford]

Caltex put out a specialised product called "Log End Sealer" which is very good only problem is it only comes in 25ltr drums and is quite expensive, although is covers a lot of log ends.

[don716]

Gil Jones,
Any idea what it would cost to ship a gallon to 30705(area code)? Or could that be possible? I'm about 30 miles south of Chatt.Tenn.

Donny USA

[Gil Jones]

Don't know, guess I'll need to weigh one and see. I did look on the U.C Coatings site, and the prices sure have gone up some from the last time. I think it was $325 for 55 gallons (approx $6 per gallon). I am going to Tallahassee this coming Wednesday, and I may buy another 5-gallon pail of it at our club if it is still $25. If you are interested I can get you one, getting it to you is something else (I'll be in Atlanta on Oct 20).

Also, you might want to chat with the

Apple Ridge Woodturners
Telephone: (706) 636-3841
Terry Daniel
Ellijay, Blue Ridge, Jasper and Canton

and see if they have any Anchorseal for sale, they are a woodturning club just east of you, and way closer than I am.

[regulated]

If you have a talk to a petroleum depot/distributor, not a service station they should be able to help you out. Ask for a log end sealer, lots of different types/brands out there and they are all different names. In Aus we can get a 20L drum (around 4-5 gallons) for about A$90. This is pretty cheap really when this product is designed to do the job you are asking it to do. I have used paint, foam etc before and its ok but if you have the cash may as well get the real thing. It is designed to seal in the moisture just enough to prevent cracking and slowly stabilise the timber.

it is worth getting hold of a professional product. Just think how annoyed you will be when it all splits and most of it will be unusable.

BJ