I recently posted a message about how to control termites on some walnut, well, now I have a different issue. I saw another little bugger about two weeks later on the wood after I had double bagged it and fogged it, so I ended up taking it out to my parents barn to dry. I went out there a couple days ago, and saw that it is cracking across the fresh cut. I cut it into 1 inch thick pieces, and they are all pretty much heart shaped (like the real human organ, not the picture), any ideas on how to properly store them outside in a barn? The wood planks I have bought from hardwood lumber outlets were painted blue on the ends, should I spray paint them to seal in the moisture? Or is there a material I should get specially for sealing wood during the drying process.
Jasen Morris
Replies
If you are referring to sealing the end grain to minimize checking, there are products just for that, but I have had good luck just painting the ends with left-over latex house paint. Sealing the end grain helps prevent the ends from drying much faster than the rest of the board.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Mike,
I tried latex paint on some freshly cut Douglas Fir and it seemed to do nothing other than add colour. Therefore, I can't recommend it.
One month ago I got a few hundred board feet of maple and sealed the endgrain with Lee Valley end sealer, which is a wax emulsion. So far, no checking.Chris @ flairwoodworks
Chris, as you know? wood loses/gains moisture through the end grains mostly so if you need to slow the process down you need to seal the end s of each board.
Lumber companies that deal in high grade timbers usually use paraffin wax (white wax) similar to candle wax for this. It is more effective than paint , easy to get off. When they paint the ends it is more for grade/species identification rather than for end sealing. Some species do not need this treatment.Philip Marcou
Philip,
I knew about moisture loss through the end grain and about the wax to seal the endgrain. I was speculative about the coloured paint. Now I know.Chris @ flairwoodworks
Are you sure that the new critter was a termite? If it's a powder post beetle or other such thing, you may need to perform some different incantations.
When you say that the pieces of lumber are heart-shaped, are they slabs off the side of the log, or do they cut all the way across the log, so that the central pith (the oldest part of the tree) is included? Slabs that include the pith of a log are very hard to stabilize.
-Steve
Thank you for your attention to the termite issue as well, I am a new guy to woodworking (about 8-12 months), so pretty much everything I hear is something new. Well, not being an entomologist I would describe the insect as a milky white thing with a beer belly, about as long as the width of your pointer finger nail. As far as the cut of the wood, I cut it in half parallel to the grain by hand in order to fit it through my bandsaw (6" cutting capacity). The pieces look heart shaped because there was a stub from a branch on the uncut side of the log. So, to answer the question, I do think the pith was part of the cut.
Jasen Morris
Edited 11/26/2007 1:04 am ET by JMorris
That does sound like a termite. It's hard to imagine how it could have survived in there for so long, though.
I think you're okay as far as the pith issue is concerned. I should have been a little clearer in my description: Just having the pith present isn't necessarily a problem (although the wood in the pith itself is always going to have a tendency to be unstable); the problem occurs when you have a cut that crosses the pith, so that the pith is entirely surrounded by solid wood. In that case, some cracks in the solid portion are all but inevitable. See the attached sketches.
-Steve
With respect to all other posters, putting latex paint on end grain of freshly sawn logs or lumber does little or nothing to control moisture loss. You'll want something much heavier, and places like Rockler or Woodcraft sell a product called Green Wood end grain Sealer. It's a much heavier waxy product that prevents rapid moisture loss through the end grain, which causes checking in many species. When I first began sawing my own lumber, I used latex paint, and lost quite a few board feet to checking.
Now, another alternative which I recently started using thanks to a tip from Bob Smalser is "Henry's Water Based Roof Cement" available at Home Depot or Menards. I used this on my last 1000 bf load, and it is working beautifully. It's also dirt cheap, compared to some of the other stuff mentioned.
Jeff
I've only sawn wood once -- a little over two years ago, I wanted to harvest some white pine from a large tree on the property where I grew up. (It ate a lot of my footballs, frizbees, etc., when I was a kid and it was time for some payback!)
I used a chainsaw mill to cut it up and sealed the endgrain with some latex paint I had on hand. It has been drying ever since stickered and sitting on my shop floor. I just used the first piece last weekend -- the wood is nicely dried with no checking.
Guess it's better to be lucky than good! ;-)
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
Mike
I've never sawn pine, as I don't use it in my woodworking business, so I have no experience with it. However, with maple, cherry, walnut, poplar, red and white oak, and ash, I have sawn thousands of board feet of lumber, and I learned after just a few rounds of air drying what the damages could and would be using the latex paint.
Some guys who could be considered experts in the field of drying wood have stated over and over how latex paint does not slow the moisture escape process enough to be considered a good product to use. I took their advice about 10 years ago, and the quality of my lumber improved quite a bit.
I know how you feel about getting even with that tree. I've got one at my dad's house (an elm) that I fell out of as a kid and broke my foot. I'd love to get even with that sob someday!! :)
Jeff
"I've got one at my dad's house (an elm) that I fell out of as a kid and broke my foot. I'd love to get even with that sob someday!!"
Man, have you ever tried to split, saw or work elm? If you ever do mill that tree, it may well have the last laugh! ;-)
As for sealing my pine, like I said, it looks like I was lucky since the trend seems to be that latex paint is not generally suitable for the job.
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
The old rhyme said "Ellum hateth / Man, and waiteth." They had in mind the tree falling on you, though, not you falling out.
I like elm, it has an interesting figure and sometimes a silvery sheen, but every now and then you hit a little hard spot where you don't expect it that knocks a chip out of your planer blade. Back in the UK it was the favoured wood for coffins, so it had the last laugh more often than not.
Jim
I milled an elm, once. ONCE. Great looking wood when it was first milled, but through the air drying process, it turned a silvery gray color. It also split and twisted badly, even with ratchet straps wrapped around the entire stack. I made a few nice pieces with it, but more than half wound up in the burn pile. I chalked it up to experience not to bother, but the heracy I'd like to commit on my father's tree would be purely for revenge purposes only. I didn't mention that I also used a large limb hanging over the driveway as a mount for a come-along, to yank an engine out of a '69 Dodge Charger that I was restoring way back when. The danged branch broke, dropping the engine, bending the motor mounts, and the tree smashed in the roof of the car, causing me about 2 weeks of extra body work!!
Thoughts of a chainsaw stirring through my head.......
Jeff
Elm burns OK though! Ran some through my new wood-fired brick oven last weekend. No problems with stringy, wacky grain once it gets in the oven! ;-)
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
I think what you are talking about is Asphalt emultion yes.
Edited 11/27/2007 11:46 pm ET by TonyCz
The product I listed is the actual brand name that I bought. It is simply a water based roofing cement. If asphaltium is the same, then go for it. The idea is to not allow water loss out of the end grain.
Jeff
I also use this Woodcraft product and it works really well I also use it to coat my cast iron machine tops to prevent rust. GOOD STUFF
I've had good results using roof paint. Both aluminum-asphalt and water based. I find that it is important to get the coating on the end grain right away. (Take the paint can and brush into the woodlot along with the chainsaw) I have never been able to stop a crack from running once it starts. Be sure that your stickers are close to the ends of your boards.
BJ
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled