Wood Gloat and Questions

[Bob Haverstock]

Hi,

A friend of mine dropped of 3 small cedar logs last night. The logs are about 7' long. The gloat is that they were free! They were fresh cut Monday.

The question is "Will chopping them into blocks and Anchor Sealing the sawn ends be a suitable method of preserving them?" They will be stored in the shed.

My lathe is JWL1220, so I'm thinking the blocks will no longer that 11".

Is assuming that the sealed ends will not check pretty iffy?

Bob Haverstock

[Steve Schlumpf]

Bob - sealing the ends should delay any checking. If you have room - I would leave everything in log form until you want to turn a piece. Then just cut off what you need and seal the fresh exposed part of the log. That should keep the wood from checking for quite some time.

Congrats on the wood - but photos would have been nice!!! Looking forward to seeing what you turn out of it!

[Burt Alcantara]

Putting them in a shed is a good idea. My neighbor heats his home with wood, cedar being one of his high BTU woods. He gave me a fresh cut log which I kept outside. A few months later there wasn't much left. Bugs ate most of it. From the inside out.

As I recall, I did seal both ends. What wasn't eaten was preserved. No splits or checks.

Burt

[Bob Haverstock]

Thanks guys,

I changed my plan of action. I cut the cedar into 20 to 22 inch lengths. If the cedar doesn't check, I have 4 blanks per length. If it does check, I cut off the ends and have 2 blanks per length. I have Anchor sealed the pieces and have them out of the weather.

I have 2 green cedar hollow forms drying as I type. Life is good.

Bob

[Bernie Weishapl]

I would have left them in the log form. You will have some cracking. I have some outside under a tarp and they are 6 foot long.