Treating green wood

[Dave Dionne]

A friend of mine just cut down 5 or 6 tree's in his front yard, birch and maple. I haven't seen them yet but the I was told that the maple was small 7" diameter or less but the birch was about 12 across or so. They have been cut into rounds 8-12 inch's thick. I was told to help myself all I want.
I am new to turning and in the pen stage but man I love it and want to move on to bigger projects. The question is should I take a bunch of the birch? If I do how should I treat it? Should it be sealed to slow the drying? How about storage? My shop/garage gets hot during the day often hitting close to 95° is it better off outside?

I would be greatful of any help you could give


Dave Dionne

[Jim Becker]

Always seal the endgrain to reduce checking and splitting...Anchorseal is about the best thing for that. You need to do this sealing right away, too. It only takes a couple of days for problems to quickly develop. The sealer slows down the drying process through the end grain, making things more stable.

One other thing...don't leave them in "rounds" unless you plan on end-grain turnings relatively soon. You need to get the pith out, again, to reduce the chance of spllitting and checking radially from the pith

[Gary Whitt]

I second what Jim says.
You can use latex paint, also. Latex lets the moisture escape from the logs.
Kinda like Goretex.
BTW.....
Jim, am I to understand you are sliding toward the slippery slope????
Hand-cut dovetails????
Coooooooool!!!!

[Brad Schmid]

Dave,

What Jim said...

and, once pith removal and sealing is complete, don't put them in direct sun for drying. Dry shady area is best. Rain and other weather will erode the sealer and direct intense sun/heat will usually cause checking even if sealed.

Regards,
Brad

[Jim Becker]

Gary, the CD rack in our great room was constructed with hand-cut dovetails three years ago...with inappropriate tools even. I want to learn all aspects of woodworking, and although I tend to electron usage (sometimes because of time; other times because it's the best method for the job) I'm not afraid of using hand tools. That started, in fact, when I bought my L-N low-angle block plane a few years ago...a tool that gets used on almost every project these days.

BTW, latex paint actually does a poor job for sealing end-grain. If you must use it, two to four coats are necessary to get even close to the results that you will get with Anchorseal or properly applied (very hot) paraffin wax.

[Gary Whitt]

Jim.....
I'm still learning the hand-cut dovetail thing.
It's fun.
So far (knock on wood), the only tools that have drawn blood from me are my hand tools!
Latex paint is a last resort or if you don't have access to Anchorseal.
It is definitely better than nothing.
I bought a product at Woodcraft (Greenwood something). It does a good job of sealing the end grain.