Green wood

[jared parson]

Hey all-
I'm a new member to the creek, although I've checked in from time to time over the years. I'm curious how many of you cut your own blanks from green logs and what your processes are for sealing them, cutting them, as well as your success rates. I've heard mixed reviews from commercial products like AS2. I've read on various site about people creating their own, or just using parrafin. Anyone make their own? Are you sealing the end grain only, or the entire blank?
I cut a bunch last weekend and got some real nice pieces. I used my remaining supply of WC brand "green wood end sealer" that I purchased from local WC store many years ago for a small project and forgot I had it. I don't even see that particular product on their site anymore, but I still have a bunch to seal. It's been a week and the unsealed pieces are not yet cracking but I don't want to wait much longer. I did cut the pith out of the logs when milling.
Thanks

[Fred Belknap]

Jared sounds like you have a pretty good idea about what to do. I use mostly green blanks that I cut myself. I use AnchorSeal original land AnchorSeal #2 and don't see much difference. I seal the end grain and about 3" down on the bare wood side. I don't put any on the bark side, I make a lot of natural edge bowls. I store my blanks in a unheated building with little exposure to light. The keep about 100% for about a year and then the failure rate goes way up. I have some that seem to store forever this way but most will start spitting after about a year. I try to use them up or give them away before they go bad. I get AnchorSeal from uccoatings.com. You can save them for a while by covering them with a tarp to keep them from drying out, it would help to spray some water on them occasionly. Your local weather may have an effect to, I live in a rather damp climate so my advise may not work exactly where you live. The main idea is to slow down the drying process so that the outside doesn't dry a lot faster than the inside of a block.

[Mike Cruz]

Jared, welcome to the Creek. Be sure to post pics of your work!

I think many to most of us certainly "turn" green wood. I also think a large majority of us cut our own blanks (those with access to green wood, at least). Personally, I cut up a log into rounds and seal the ends with AS...the original formula. I leave the rounds in tact until I am ready to turn them. They last longer that way, and you use less AS, because if/when I do cut the rounds into slabs (or even slabs into blanks on the band saw) and don't plan to get to them right away, I seal the entire thing (including faces). I've had too many go bad on me when only coating the endgrain of slabs and blanks.

Your best bet is to cut up only as much as you can turn. Unless you are planning on/don't mind some spalting (if your location "allows" it...don't know where you are). If you know your rounds are going to sit for a while, certainly cut them 6+" longer than you "need". That will allow for some checking...even with AS. AS does not keep the wood from losing moisture, it just slows it down.

Once I've roughed out, I then either coat the entire blank in AS, or soak in DNA...usually, the latter. But particularly on large roughouts, my DNA bath container is too small (I think the largest I can get in there is 17-18"), so kinda have to go with AS.

Hope this helps.

[Tony Pridmore]

Jared,

Removing the pith is helping you a lot with the radial movement of the wood. It will help prevent the long splits you may otherwise get. However, you still need to do something to minimize checking that occurs in the end grain. That's what the sealer is for.

I'm a believer in the Anchor Seal product. The original formula is all I've tried so I can't say much about the newer formulation. Well, since I don't know much chemistry I can't say much about the original other than it seems to help a bunch. I have also used Klingspor's house brand sealer with good success.

To answer your questions.... I coat all end grain and down a couple of inches on the face grain. End grain dries much faster than face grain. You want the drying rate of all surfaces to be equal to minimize movement. Also, coating the face grain invites mold growth. You may get some mold on the end grain, but generally you can trim off a bit and will find it doesn't penetrate too much. If you live in an extremely dry climate then it may make sense to coat the entire blank.

Seal as soon as you can. You may want to trim a small amount from the end grain of the pieces that sat a week if there is length to spare, then apply sealer.

If you have an idea of how the wood will be used, you can speed up the drying process and improve success rate by roughing out. Turn bowls down to a thickness approximately 10% of overall diameter. Round out spindle blanks. Seal after roughing. Note of caution: if you need to cut rounded spindle blanks to length before turning, you need to be very careful when using a band saw. Do not attempt to cut free-hand. A jig to support the blank is a must.

Drying success rate depends a lot on tree species and humidity in your area. I'm satisfied with my success rate. It's getting better with experience.

Good luck with it.

-Tony

[Reed Gray]

Generally I will leave them in log form, and covered. I do go through wood fairly fast though. If you need to store it for a while, then cutting it into slabs is the best way to go. Do cut the slabs a couple of inches longer than the width. There is always some end checking. One solution for end grain coating that I heard and sounded pretty smart was to slop a bunch of latex paint on the end and then put some plastic on the paint while still wet. The water in the wood along with the plastic keeps it wet for a long time. Blanks should be out of sun, wind, and heat.

robo hippy

[Steve Rost]

I have been slopping paint on logs for a number of years and recently added a plastic layer as Reed stated. Some logs are destined to split but I am having good success. Longest I have stored logs outside as mentioned above is 8 months. I am getting nervous however and will process to slabs ASAP.

[jared parson]

Thanks for the replies guys...I may experiment with some rough turning. I'm assuming the 10% overall thickness gives room for wood to move and still be turned round again once dry? Most green wood I have turned ends up distorting in shape as it dries, if left thicker it can be turned back to a true round shape? Does this present problems with re-chucking? I'm picturing the wobble!

[Fred Belknap]

if left thicker it can be turned back to a true round shape? Does this present problems with re-chucking? I'm picturing the wobble!

You are correct it will introduce a wobble and questionable hold on the chuck. I leave a center mark on the bottom and jam chuck it against the chuck jaws with the tail stock center. I then reround the tenon or recess. I just takes a few minutes using a parting tool.

[Curt Fuller]

Thanks for the replies guys...I may experiment with some rough turning. I'm assuming the 10% overall thickness gives room for wood to move and still be turned round again once dry? Most green wood I have turned ends up distorting in shape as it dries, if left thicker it can be turned back to a true round shape? Does this present problems with re-chucking? I'm picturing the wobble!

Some wood get really distorted. I like to use a sort of jamb chuck to return roughed bowls. Just a convex shaped hunk of wood and I put the bowl between that and the tailstock. You can move it around a little to get it centered as much as possible and get the tenon back to round. Then you can mount it in a chuck and have at it.