Sealing End Grain on
Your WoodTurning Blanks

I was out collecting some wood for turning the other day. Found a pine or fir tree about 12″ at widest end cut up in 2, 3 and 4 foot lengths. Just what I was looking for.

I got some ash and beech a couple months ago. A neighbor was cutting down some small trees and I grabbed some choice pieces. I brought them home and stuck them off to the side and forgot about them. I figured I would seal the ends when I got around to it.

Guess what, I never got around to it and it looks like the pieces will be ruined for wood turning. Very disappinted since I had some burls and other pieces that looked interesting. So reminder to self …..always seal the ends right away!

So, I grabbed my new pine pieces. Had some old Latex paint laying around and promtly painted the ends to seal them. The theory goes like this. The ends will dry quicker while the wood in the middle of the log stays nice and wet. You’ve got some uneven movement due to the dryness and continual drying going on so something has to give …..you ususally see it right in the end of your cut logs.

If it hasn’t been too long you can still seal it or better yet, cut off an inch or two and see what it looks like, you might find that the log is still “check” free. Make sure you seal that puppy right away 🙂

What to use for sealing end
grain on wood blanks?

Basically you can use any ole paint you have laying around for end sealing, some swear by it others think a commercial end sealer is better. Put in on thick and store it outside under cover if you can. A good place to find cheap paint is your local Home Depot, Menards or Lowes ….any hardware store will have paint that someone returned or didn’t get mixed right. A gallon of paint goes a long way when sealing ends.

I’ve tried spray paint and it works, but unless you can pick up a can for $.25 or so, it really isn’t worth it.

I’m on a facebook group for sawyers, portable sawmills. These guys get 10′, 15′, 20′ or more length of trees that are 36″ or more in diameter and they still seal the ends otherwise the checking and cracking can ruin much of the log.

These guys use the same thing us woodturner’s would use, old paint …except they’re looking for 5 gallon deals! I would say 70 to 80% of these guys use latex paint on their slabs and other produced wood and stock tree trunks!

AnchorSeal Stops Logs from
Checking and Splitting

There is a commercial product made specifically for sealing the end of wet wood, wether small stuff like we use or whole tree trunks. I believe it’s called “anchorseal”. Seems as though they have several different versions of Anchor Seal now and it looks like it ranges from $25 to $35 dollars. If I was doing a project where I wanted to be absolutely sure there was not splitting, checking or cracking I would use Anchor Seal.. but for my budget and normal woodturning I do I will continue to use paint I have laying around. Maybe when the old paint is no longer available and I get rich, I’ll switch over to AnchorSeal!

Here’s a guy who did a quick video using AnchorSeal for End Grain Sealing from Peter Matthew

Using Glue to Seal Log Ends
to Prevent Splitting

Rick from RickTurns shows us another way to seal end grain on your woodturning logs using Elmers Glue. Notice the nice little jig he set up to slice his logs into slabs and other usable features. A pretty interesting video since he actually performed some tests on the best method to keep logs from splittng!

GreenWood End Sealer Stops
Splitting on Wet Wood

There are a lot of great reviews for Rockler’s Green Wood End Sealer. A product similar to AnchorSeal but cheaper. Next time they have free delivery I think I will grab a gallon to use on some of my choice wood finds. Or I could go down to the local Rockler store to get some 🙂

Check out some of these reviews.

http://shrsl.com/?if28

Ash

Had 3 trees taken down and milled into lumber. This product is great, easy to apply and clean up. I fully expect my boards to have no end-checking after they dry out.

You can always see what’s new at Wood Turning Basics!