Thread: Good sealers - other than cow poo

I use melted wax in an old electric fry pan, I recon it'd be a lot lets toxic than melted foam.
I've heard that some people have even used PVA glue to seal the ends.

regards

Gino

Went into town yesterday and picked up the supplies.

Experiment:
No.1-50/50 parrafin and bees wax.
No.2-80/20 parrafin and bees respectively
No.3-BP Log End Sealer 20L (A$100.00 for those interested)
No.4-Packing foam from TV box mixed with turps to a consistant goo.
No.5-Packing foam mixed with Automotive spray paint thinners.
No.6-PVA glue.

I'm going to take 6 slices (approx 250mm (10") diameter x 150mm (6") deep) of she-oak, coat them immediately after cutting, then into the shed to see what happens. Will keep you informed.

I will also weigh each piece to give us a moisture percentage lose/retained - I'll try and post photos and results on a weekly basis.

Cheers
Iain Hamilton.

Two things to consider.
Not every packing foam is polystyrene.
There are some politicaly correct "solvents" that don't disolve stuff the real ones should.

polystyrene disolves in GP laquer thinners rather quickly:eek: .
It disolves in all sorts of other stuff very redily, like turps, petrol or anything petrol related, metho I think.

I have had some stuff that looks a lot like styro but just goes sticky & I supose it would disolve eventulay... sort of.

BTW.... always take the proper safety precautions.

cheers

Errrrr

Just a question - how do you cut your blanks? I.e. when you say 250mm dia and 150mm long, how does the grain run?

Excellent Iain.

A bit of experimental data will be very welcome.

btw, what are you riding?

Originally Posted by Gino

I use melted wax in an old electric fry pan, I recon it'd be a lot lets toxic than melted foam.
I've heard that some people have even used PVA glue to seal the ends.

Gino

Yeah, when I do a batch I heat up a baking tray of parrafin wax on a cheap electric grill top. It's slow cos big blocks pull down the temp of the wax, but it's a lot safer than heating a pan of wax over an open flame.

I've read big chip fryers work well too.

Originally Posted by soundman

Two things to consider.
Not every packing foam is polystyrene.
There are some politicaly correct "solvents" that don't disolve stuff the real ones should.

polystyrene disolves in GP laquer thinners rather quickly:eek: .
It disolves in all sorts of other stuff very redily, like turps, petrol or anything petrol related, metho I think.

In a previous life I was a paint chemist. Styrofoam will dissolve in anything with high aromatics, eg mineral turps, toluene, xylene. Most thinners for aotomotive spraying enamel will do the trick. White spirits is very low in aromatics and will not so well.
I don't think metho will work but haven't actually tried it.
I had never heard of using styrofoam in turps to seal end grain, what a great idea.
I have always used our cattle branding paint, which tends to be a thick gooey (highly technical here) spirit based paint. I always used different colours for different wood species so it was easy to at a glance what was what.

Originally Posted by rsser

Yeah, when I do a batch I heat up a baking tray of parrafin wax on a cheap electric grill top. It's slow cos big blocks pull down the temp of the wax, but it's a lot safer than heating a pan of wax over an open flame.

I've read big chip fryers work well too.

My early experiment in melting parafin wax, Age 12!! I thought I'd make some candles, so I put some parafin in an empty dog food can, and heated it over an open fire under the flooded gum at home.:confused: Well it didn't take long for it to melt ,than boil, than overflow, and then burn the top out of the 30 meter gum tree in a spectacular explosion!.:eek: I was just lucky I wasn't looking over the top of the can at the time.

I have an old electric frypan courtesy of a clearing sale years ago, $2 outlay. In it I melt any old wax I can lay my hands on, mainly beeswax I guess from bee keeping types, full of dead bees and crud. I turns the thing on and wait till it gets steamy hot and then end seal by dipping, with bowl blanks, dipping and rolling. seems to work a treat...... cheap too, a bit like me.

Who'da though that parrafin wax would be so hard to get. Nearest large town is Coffs and no fuel depots carry it. Candle suppliers in Sydney are about the only place I can find it . No one here will even order it for me.

My local bee bloke is selling me a 5kg slab of unfiltered bees wax. Any other suggestions on what to mix it with other than parrafin wax.

Cedar n silky, maybe that's why I can't get hold of any parrafin wax!

Arno, for this purpose/experiment it will be a cross grain cut, taking slices off the she-oak trunk (for want of a better description), like slicing a carrot. Shooda said 150mm thick (not long). Or, should I be taking a longer cut and splitting it down the centre?

Rsser, that photo was taken by me on the back of a friends hornet. I actually ride a blade, one model up from yours '04. Awesome fun!

Big Shed/Soundman, just tried a bit in turps.....works very well. Tip for anyone else trying the foam method - don't get any on your fingers. This was 2 hours ago and I'm still trying to pick it off.

Gino/Christopha, will do a garage sale search in Coffs tomorrow looking for one electric fry pan. If I pay more than $2.00 I'll consider myself ripped off.

QUOTE:'Or, should I be taking a longer cut and splitting it down the centre?'


Hi Iain - looking forward to the results.
I mostly use thick bitumastic / bituminous paint to seal green timber / blanks - that's all I can get that works (other than melted beeswax) - no such thing as purpose made log end sealer in these parts! Maybe another one to add to your list of experiments .

Blanks for wood turning from green logs should generally be cut to length (slightly over) then the log split in half lengthwise to remove the pith - this should make the log far less likely to split.

Originally Posted by Designsync

Tip for anyone else trying the foam method - don't get any on your fingers. This was 2 hours ago and I'm still trying to pick it off.

I make mine thicker than Soundman, I place it on the log end and spread it out with my hands, doesn't stick at all to my hands. After about an hour it soaks in, but leaves a coating around 2-3mm thick that takes about a week to dry.

I did try the thinner method, but found it crazed after about 3 months. The thicker stuff stays pliable, although very hard, and hasn't cracked after 18 months (my oldest).

For keeping glop in general off my hands, I usually wear disposable latex or nitrile gloves (aka "proctologist gloves" ). Available in packs of about 25 pairs at drug stores (Do you folks still call them "chemists?"), and in first aid/bandages department at supermarkets. YMMV

I don't mind getting my hands dirty. Frequent cleaning is the PITA, because I need to replace towels while the previous ones dry.

JG

Originally Posted by Designsync

...Tip for anyone else trying the foam method - don't get any on your fingers. This was 2 hours ago and I'm still trying to pick it off.

Gino/Christopha, will do a garage sale search in Coffs tomorrow looking for one electric fry pan. If I pay more than $2.00 I'll consider myself ripped off.

Yep Designsync, i wasn't kidding when i said about it being a recipe for napalm - it was in one of those 1001 Chemical recipe publications freely available on P2P.

Good tip Gino/Christopha. I will hunt a fry pan up at the local markets or garage sales.

Oh, re paraffin wax - couldn't find a source here. Well i have about 5 kg of cleaned beeswax and i am going to mix it with the same quantity by weight of white candles (the 6" x 3" dia ones - cheap from Chickenfeed store). Some of the beeswax i will use in polishes - hmm, i wonder if i mixed a bit of Ajax powder in as an experiment? The balance i want to use to make candles by mixing the beeswax with the white candlewax - does anyone know if they will mix?

Tom