End grain sealing

[Alan Fordham]

What product is reccomended for sealing the end grain of green wood to prevent splitting ?

[John D Smith]

Hi Alan, I have used Paraffin Wax but this involves melting the blocks down then dipping the ends of the wood into the molten liquid in up to about 4 inches. The problem with this is the melting down I do mine outside using a camping stove and an old paint kettle.
I think most people use PVA Glue.Regards John

[Dave Atkinson]

Hi Alan

I use PVA

Cheers Dave

[Tim Pettigrew]

Like Dave, I have also used undiluted builders PVA for several years now (very cheap about 10.50 GBP for 5 litre container) and have found it to be very effective.

Tim

[Andy Coates]

PVA as well...when I can be bothered at all. In truth I rarely end seal anything and find I have very few problems with the staple species I use...sycamore, ash, beech Etc. I try and obtain all wood in long section and accept some end loss due to splitting and everything goes along just fine. The worst thing is to store your logs in a poor way. Try to keep them out of direct sunlight, away from the ground and damp, but ensure you have air flow around them.

Logs under 4" will eventually dry to anything from 10% to 15%, larger logs will never actually "dry" in the sense of seasoning, and even then you can still expect movement when you eventually cut into them, this is largely due to stress relief.

[Alan Fordham]

Thank you all for your inputs. It looks like I will be using PVA.

[Tim Pettigrew]

PVA as well...when I can be bothered at all. In truth I rarely end seal anything and find I have very few problems with the staple species I use...sycamore, ash, beech Etc. I try and obtain all wood in long section and accept some end loss due to splitting and everything goes along just fine. The worst thing is to store your logs in a poor way. Try to keep them out of direct sunlight, away from the ground and damp, but ensure you have air flow around them.

Logs under 4" will eventually dry to anything from 10% to 15%, larger logs will never actually "dry" in the sense of seasoning, and even then you can still expect movement when you eventually cut into them, this is largely due to stress relief.

Andy - I have had problems with unsealed Birch logs which, unlike other native hard-woods, seem to be particularly susceptible to extensive internal fungal degradation when left to dry.  The last batch I obtained degraded like this over 12 months. On the way they became spectacularly spalted but had to be converted in time or else some of the logs became totally punky and unusable.  I wonder if sealing the ends of freshly cut logs would prevent the ingress of the spores and lessen the fungal attack?  Will certainly try that with my next batch.

Tim

[Andy Coates]

Birch, including Silver Birch, are notoriously poor woods to store in any way. Quick growing, porous qualities, and soft in nature they are, as you've noticed, very quick to spalt and degrade. Sealing will not prolong their usefulness in my experience.

If I have birch I always work the principle that it should be worked as near from green where ever possible, and if spalting is required then three months after felling is the latest I'll use it. After that it's pretty much poor grade firewood.

Don't forget that if you're using any wood whilst the spalting is effectively active then there is a potential risk of pulmonary infection from the spores, so microwaving to kill the spores is a sensible precaution. You could also use a proprietry anti-fungal treatment, but this can cause finishing problems later, and ensuring deep enough penetration of the wood can be an issue. There have always been issues surrounding spalted woods, and more often than not they've been ignored, mainly because we all used kiln dried spalted blanks for a long time, and in these the active spores are dead, but wood with live spores/fungus can be an issue...so if using them take advice or search for information.

[Tim Pettigrew]

Thanks very much Andy for that very useful advice.  In future I will make sure that any green Birch that I acquire is used promptly.  Was also very interested in your comments about the dangers of spores from spalted timber.

Tim