Cut off checked ends before sealing?

[Damon McLaughlin]

I just got three 6" round cherry logs, each about 15" long. The ends are checked, I don't know how deep it runs or how old the rounds are. They're heavy and still look wet. Should I cut off the checked ends until I get to solid wood before sealing, or should I just seal the ends as they are? Thanks.

[John Keeton]

I think you will have better luck sealing a fresh cut, but a cherry log with the pith is going to have a strong tendency to crack. I hope it remains stable for you. Do you intend to turn it green at some point?

[Damon McLaughlin]

I may try to find some time to turn them green this weekend so I may not do any sealing until then. My other thought was to cut them down the center lengthwise and then seal them, or cut them into blanks (bowl and spindle) before sealing. Just trying to figure the best way to preserve the wood in case I can't rough turn them while they are green. Aside from the three small cherry logs I have two birch logs that are about the same size and condition. I may not have time to turn all of them into rough blanks.

[Al Launier]

Have you considered the ratio of heartwood to sapwood in the 6" logs? If you intend to favor the heartwood over the sapwood in your finished product, you might be surprised to see how much sapwood there is in a 6". If you are looking for both, then this may not be a concern. I think John's suggestion is worth noting as the sealant may work better, plus you'll be able to get a good idea about the amount of heartwood vs. sapwood.

[Sid Matheny]

I would cut the ends and then seal them. After they dry you could turn them down to make something like pepper mills where you would drill out most of the pith. Good luck.

[Damon McLaughlin]

I don't necessarily intend to favor one over the other but will work with what is there. I'll cut the ends off and seal them when I get home from my appointments. Is there any harm cutting the logs into blanks before sealing or would I be better off just cutting the ends off and sealing the log as a whole until I'm ready to turn? I normally just have dry wood to work with so having green wood is relatively new to me (I've had some in the past that I didn't treat very nicely and was only able to get just a little bit of good wood out of it, trying to be more proactive this time around). Thanks again.

[Damon McLaughlin]

I would cut the ends and then seal them. After they dry you could turn them down to make something like pepper mills where you would drill out most of the pith. Good luck.

Sound good, thank you Sid. Now that I think about it, with three logs I might just try three different approaches including cutting the ends and sealing on one log, cutting down the center and sealing on another and then cutting small spindle blanks out of the third. Then when I'll know what works best for me the next time I get some more green wood.

[Michael Mills]

I'm a long way from Spokane and our climates are probably pretty different.
It may not be your best bet but for me I would trim the ends, then split to remove the pith. John K. mentioned the tendency for cherry to crack if the pith remains and that has been my experience also. The width of your chain saw should be enough to remove the pith if you make an accurate cut.

[Bob Bouis]

If you're going to use them this weekend there's no reason to cut the ends off now.

Small logs don't make good bowl blanks. They're not stable as they're basically a half log, and those will crack in the center at 90 degrees to your cut. You'll probably lose half of them to splitting when drying.

You need to rough or finish turn them instead. For logs that small you might consider finish turning them green and including the pith, as long as it's in the walls of the bowl and not the base. Use superglue to stabilize the pith. Watch out for ring shake, too.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I would rough turn the wood as soon as I could, in the meantime pack them in a plastic bag, should keep things OK for a week or two.

When turning, first cut the pith out, and when done, place the rough turned pieces in a brown paper bag, set aside in a cool place to let them dry and stabilize.

[Damon McLaughlin]

I'm finally home after a long day at the VA. I cut the ends off a few of the logs and the pictures are below. I really like the spalting in some of these logs and because I have no experience how to deal with these if I get some cutting advice based on what you see in the photos I would appreciate it. The moisture content ranges from 24 to 31% depending on the log. The rather two large ones by my boots, anyone have any idea what those are? I see some checking at the end of each log but would really like to take advantage of maximizing the wood. My only experience with green wood has been with pine and I've never been careful with those as pine is a dime a dozen here.

Is there wood here where I can do some small bowls and hollow forms? I would like to get some spindle blanks for tops and other small things as well if possible. Or, based on the moisture content, am I better just sealing them as they are and waiting until the moisture content drops before doing any processing? I can do some green turning this weekend but I won't be able to turn all of this in a weeks time. Thanks again for all your input.

David

I do not know what type of wood this is. The next photo shows it with the end cut off and it measures about 11" in diameter, the third is a smaller log from the same tree (I think)
P1010101.jpg P1010104.jpg P1010110.jpg

Here are the cherry logs, with some of the splitting what is the best way to process these (I think these are cherry as that is what I was told)
P1010107.jpg


(I tried to delete the attachments below but couldn't figure out how, sorry for the redundancy)

[Damon McLaughlin]

I don't know what these are. Side profile shows the bark, I know the top doesn't show the grain well but I didn't know how to cut into these yet. They're big, hopefully I can get a couple bowl blanks.

P1010111.jpg

P1010112.jpg

[John K Jordan]

...Is there any harm cutting the logs into blanks before sealing or would I be better off just cutting the ends off and sealing the log as a whole until I'm ready to turn?

Hey Dave.

If I have a log section I can't work on right away I always seal the ends as soon as possible. Then when I get to the bandsaw I cut it (usually) down the middle. At this point I usually cut the checks off the ends of one half both to remove any checks and to give a good surface to better see the wood to decide what sizes of blanks to make. I will reseal the ends then only if I won't be cutting it up further right away.

If I'm cutting it up right then, I wait until I've cut the blanks from that half and seal the ends. However, if the log is larger and I'm making large blanks, then I often seal immediately after cutting each large blank.

I've had mixed results with cherry. (it's all black cherry, wild cherry here) If making turning squares up to 3" they hardly ever crack on the ends here (it's fairly humid here much of the year, maybe that helps). But keep in mind individual cherry trees can be more stable than others. Some will start to check while you watch, others not at all. Just yesterday I looked again at a round from "the king of stable cherry trees" that has refused to crack even after years out in the sun and rain. The whole tree was like that - I cut a bunch of big squares and bowl blanks from it and none of them got a crack or check. I should cut up that remaining chunk some day and see what it's like inside.

BTW, for species that shrink a lot I've also learned to seal the sides of the blanks that are the closest to tangent to the rings. Since the most shrinkage is along the rings that's where it may crack first. Walnut, cedar, soft maple, I don't bother. Sugar maple, holly, dogwood: I always seal these sides, especially if cut as the second picture:

sealing_blanks.jpg

For species that have a lot of sapwood and the sapwood is known to shrink a lot more than the heart wood, I also like to seal any sides that expose both the heart and sapwood. Dogwood is the worst I've found for cracking at the transition. I've had far more luck sealing here:

seal_transition.jpg

In this case I will usually seal three sides, sometimes even four. This makes it take longer to dry but the success rate is higher.

JKJ

[Damon McLaughlin]

Thanks John J.! Looks like I'll be busy for a few days so the tool handle is going to be put back on the shelf. It'll get done eventually, unless I get a hold of some more wood.

[John K Jordan]

Or, based on the moisture content, am I better just sealing them as they are and waiting until the moisture content drops before doing any processing?

(I tried to delete the attachments below but couldn't figure out how, sorry for the redundancy)

The moisture content on a round log section will not drop in a reasonable time and if it does it will be near the ends and likely create a lot of cracking. If I wanted turning squares, I would cut them out immediately. If I wanted to turn green bowls or hollow forms I would do it as soon as possible. If you want to turn green but can't for a while, a couple of ways to keep the wood from degrading are put the chunks under water or put them in a freezer. You don't have this luxury, but the other John Jordan who ONLY turns green wood said he has learned to always cut 6" off the end of a log then cut his blank. If you get some long logs sometime and you might try this method.

That is beautiful wood. I always agonize about how to "best" cut up something like that - big blanks for boxes, for thin spindles, for bowls? Watch out for that area in the third photo that might be from bark damage or ring shake, can't tell from the picture. The way to test for integrity is to cut off a very thin slice then bend it and see if it easily breaks. That's also the way to test for invisible end cracks that extend deep into wood. Just cutting off the visible checks may not get down to solid wood. When I process log sections with visible end cracks I always test the end of each blank before sealing. If the thin slice breaks at a crack I continue removing slices until I hit solid wood. If I decide to keep a check in the blank for some reason, say to give me a little extra length on one end for chucking or if I think it might be turned away, I mark it with a red sharpie before sealing - that way I won't miss it later and be unpleasantly surprised when turning!

To delete attachments, go to Advanced, scroll down to Manage Attachments, at the bottom of the dialog click the "X" in each thumbnail of those you want to delete. At least that's how I do it, may be other ways.

JKJ