Drying and storing bowl blanks

[Donny Lawson]

I'm in the mood to cut up some blanks and put them up until I get time to get to them. My question is how exactly should this be done? I have a few pieces that I cut into the round shape on my bandsaw and anchorsealed the whole thing. A few pieces I have just cut the log in half and sealed the ends.How do you prepare your blanks for storage and what's the best enviorment to store them in? Some good pictures would be nice also.I cut a nice Cedar blank into round form eariler and sealed the entire blank.I'm going to work on it this weekend.
Donny

[Bernie Weishapl]

Donny I cut my logs in half making sure the pith is gone. I anchorseal the ends and up over the part that had been cut about 2 to 3 inches. I have them stored in my barn and have not had any problems so far. I have some elm out there now for almost 2 yrs. When I bring them in and cut them into a circle I store them in a part of my shop that stays fairly cool but pretty constant temp. I anchorseal the whole bowl blank.

[David E Keller]

I do what Bernie does. On some species like elm, I've found that the bark separates pretty quickly in this climate, so I tend to cut my rounds early and seal the entire thing.

[Donny Lawson]

Would it be any different if you seal just the ends on the half logs compared to cutting it into circle form and sealing the whole thing other than using more sealer on the round blank?Just couriuos because I am getting ready to cut and seal alot of blanks and I hope not to lose very many.Is there any wood blanks that are a big pain to keep from checking?
Donny

[Bernie Weishapl]

I really don't think there is much difference. I just don't have the room to staff 100+ bowl blanks so I just leave them in half log form.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Donny - everyone has their own preferred method of doing things and I guess I am just different from some folks. I leave my wood in log form and only have the end grain anchorsealed. When I want a blank to turn - I will cut off enough of the log so that I get 2 or 4 blanks. I reseal the log and then go rough out those blanks.

I find that leaving the wood in log form takes less storage and I don't have to worry about blanks going bad on me before I rough turn them.

[Donny Lawson]

Steve, When you leave it in log form wouldn't it be more prone to spliting since it still has the pith in there even though it is sealed up? Also, if you cut a blank into a circle form and seal the whole thing would it "stop" the drying process or just slow it down to a snails pace?
Thanks, Donny

[Wayne Bower]

Donny, I store my wood as Steve does. Leave in log form with the ends sealed. There is sometimes some splits in the ends but they usually can be cut off.