Thread: Travelling timber

End grain shows real nice colours. Can't wait to dress it properly for use in the bench. Have to sharpen up the plane blades before dressing Ironbark

Yes agreed lessons learnt as it has been drying pretty quickly and cracking. Next trip I'll take some paint with me to prep it a little better.

Sent from my Nokia 5.3 using Tapatalk

Is it common practice for people to use paint of some form to seal the end grain on timber if you don't know how long until you use it?

Or is that more.common when moving timber and changing humidity levels/moisture content the ends should be sealed?

Just curious of I bought timber in northern NSW and it stayed in racks up there do I need to paint the ends after milling or only when coming down south to what feels like the desert on certain days in Canberra lol?

Cheers
Delbs

Sent from my Nokia 5.3 using Tapatalk

End seal is to help with end splitting during drying. Logs should be sealed as soon as they are felled as the end checking starts almost immediatly. Timber is at risk of end check at any time during the seasoning process.

Originally Posted by rustynail

End seal is to help with end splitting during drying. Logs should be sealed as soon as they are felled as the end checking starts almost immediatly. Timber is at risk of end check at any time during the seasoning process.

Is there a particular paint or wax thats common or any paint applied pretty thick will do?

Sent from my Nokia 5.3 using Tapatalk

I use Mobilcer or Caltex End Grain Sealer, they are both wax emulsions. I don't think Mobilcer is available anymore. There is also Anchor Seal.
You can use paint but the waxes are better for the long term.

Thank you good to know. For now the Ironbark I have have their ends sealed with an acrylic style paint for now. Soon I have entire logs to cut up so I'll make sure I have one of these cans on hand to seal the ends.

Appreciate the recommendations

Sent from my Nokia 5.3 using Tapatalk

Every timber on the planet 'dry' moisture % varies. What is regarded as dry in Sweden is considered to 'wet' for Australian (Victorian) conditions. When I ran my joinery in Sweden the Jarrah I purchased from Australian could never be sold in Australia as it would be considered too 'dry'.

Therefor the answer to your question is yes. It depends on the species and where it eventually will be stored and end up (the end user). Try making a table in say Tasmanian Blackwood in Victoria and then shipping it to Cairns and see if it will move, it will. Or buy timber in Borneo 'Dry' and ship to Victoria and it will hover around 18% without secondary drying it will not be fit for purpose.

From experience 12% for Australian timbers in Victoria is a guide, but in Queensland at the joinery I used to manage, we aimed for 14% as a guide. But of course this depends on the season and the end users expectations.

I hope that's some help

Kevin

It is thank you Kevin. So if I may, i understand that if I had a piece of timber a year old air dried in a higher humidity location say NSW and then came to somewhere much dryer such as Canberra without vaping the ends it's possible for the ends to have checking and warping as it's adjusting

Does the same occur for a board that's in the dry conditions and is acclimatised with no checking and then travels to that humid northern location it will re adjust and warp and swell potentially? Does that board then have checking possibly?

Thanks for the advice, you've clearly got a lot of experience in this field

Cheers
Nathan

Sent from my Nokia 5.3 using Tapatalk

Remember water will release much faster at the ends of the board (some 12x) during seasoning than the remaining surfaces
This is why wax end sealing is critical
Stops the ends from checking
Correct stacking will also limit radial warping
Mr Fiddleback

If you can't get proper end sealer, or dipping in melted paraffin wax, a couple of coats of external PVA from the local hardware is your next best thing.

Checking is caused by too rapid drying at the early stages of the drying process. This is when the timber contains the most moisture. If this moisture is drawn off too rapidly it will cause the timber to split and crack. Uneven moistur content in the timber causes warping. Warping can occure at any time to a piece of unsealed timber, depending on how absorbent that particular piece is. For instance, If a board gets wet on one face it will cup. Tis is due to cells being swollen by the ingress of moisture. As the other face has remained dry, the cells do not swell and that side stays put. One side swells, the other doesn't, board cups. Grain configuration plays a large part in all timber movement as well.

Originally Posted by rustynail

Grain configuration plays a large part in all timber movement as well.

Definitely...and docking the logs ready for milling must be done skillfully too!
Mr Fiddleback

Thanks for your feedback

I have been fortunate to buy and inspect timber and veneers at source all over the world, moisture content and storage ideas as well as theory varies depending on the country, species, country/region of export and intended use. Its a bit of a minefield.
Having stated that, we all agree timber needs to be 'dry' but what is 'dry'. You can ask ten mills around the world and you will get a different answer, I know I have listened to them and they all can justify their answers.
However back to you issue/problem/question. I can assure you even with the best care in the world under the most experienced operators, timber will check/crack/warp/implode(yes implode) while drying. The trick is to minimise it.
The follow only pertains to air drying - stack as even as possible, seal the ends. place a canvas tarp over the whole pile (not plastic/vinyl tarps) but leave the ends open, check the moisture content in three parts of random boards (end, face and side) and record date and weather condition. This works even better if place in a large concrete pipe with the pipe length against the weather as it actually draws the moisture out of the timber (slight vacuum caused by wind rushing passed). I have seen this system in many countries and have/ do use this method myself.
The trick now is when is it 'dry'? Well as I live in Victoria I try to get 12% but I still bring it into the workshop to acclimatise for a while be for I machine it. I always cut the first 2/3 centimetres off the ends to let the timber 'breath' and moisture check regularly until use.
Canberra has similar climate to Victoria so I would imagine it would be similar but I would ask around.

I hope that helps

Kevin

Originally Posted by kph

......Canberra has similar climate to Victoria so I would imagine it would be similar but I would ask around...

No actually, very different to Vic. Canberra has the lowest humidity of all the capitals, so it can cause further drying/movement issues.