Sealed, wet blanks. How long can I keep them?

[mrGeeze]

I am a new turner with presently pretty good prospects of finding wood.
Currently I have 10-15 blanks with anchorsealed ends stored either in my unheated garage or under the porch. Tulip Poplar, Cherry, Elm.

Anyway, i was thinking about going out and getting some more (old sycamore & a big maple) was wondering: How much of this stuff can i stockpile?

If I put my mind to it I could have 50 blanks in a couple of weeks no problem.
It might annoy the wife a little but i can stuff them in the barn.

When I cut my blanks I cut the pith out. Normally I cut all the bark off.
If i can't get the pith out (bad chainsaw technique) i turn the bowl within a day or so.

Anway, regarding the blanks with painted ends and no pith.
How long can I keep them before I should turn them?
Can I keep like that them for 3-6 months?
Can I keep them like that for a year or 2?
If so, do you just magic marker them (species/date harvested) on the end grain?

 

[Mike Schwing]

As with many things, the answer is less than satisfying - it depends.

The basic answer would be, in my opinion "not as long as you think"

Each species responds differently to the storing method you describe, poplar probably being the most stable, at least in my experience. Seems to me, the more dense the wood, and the wetter the wood when sealed, the more likely it is to suffer problems while in storage. Not a hard fact, just observation.

I have tulip poplar, ash, and silver maple blanks that have been stored the way you laid out for 5 years. They are perfect. But try to do the same with cherry, elm, hard maple, walnuts, etc.. you'll have different experiences with each. Sometimes they get punky, sometimes they crack. I can often leave silver maple untreated with no cracks, and it dries rapidly, too. Each tree can behave differently, too - even in the same species. One cherry tree will store great, the next - lousy.

I try to not store more blanks than I think I can rough turn in 6 months. Only small losses occur in this timeframe, if any.

Storing them in whole logs outdoors, under cover/away from direct sunlight might be preferable, and cutting into blanks close to time of use. Some guys cut a relief to near the pith lengthwise on each log. Supposedly it relieves stress and preserves more wood for turning.

 

[Jeff Jilg]

I agree with Mike - it depends on a lot of factors.

If you rough turn them then treat them with Anchorseal then you will have a higher chance of success. I have processed a lot of wood that way.
- obtain the wood
- roughturn within 1-2 weeks
- anchorseal the roughout

With that technique, the roughouts have a good chance of surviving. But even then some of them crack. Not many, but there are some that just want to crack. In Austin I've had bad experiences with oak in the summer. It just wants to crack and warp like crazy.

I like another chunk of Mike's advice - don't store more than you can finish in 6 months. I should take that advice to heart! You can end up collecting more wood than you can process in a lifetime. I have visited at least 3 different turners whose shops are surrounded by more wood than 5 people could use in a lifetime. You will always be able to find more wood, but time is hard to acquire once it has passed.

 

[dkulze]

And don't forget spalting(rotting). Poplar, birch, beech, maple and sycamore are particularly prone to this. It can be a feature but can also end up with lots of black/brown/grey staining that doesn't look like much of anything.

 

[Mike Schwing]

Jeff, that was learned the hard way. Every day I walk the dogs by what used to be my wood pile - heaping full of huge, at one time valuable turning logs that I couldn't get to before they started to rot. I spent so much time gathering that wood - and in the end it just laughs at me. I even opened it up to a bunch of turning buddies before it all rotted, and still there is a huge log pile that is now not even good firewood.

 

[Jeff Jilg]

Oh Mike, that is such a sad story! But you are not alone. I've seen the wood collection fever hit a lot of guys, and have also seen some rotting/heavily cracked wood that is basically no longer good for anything. At least you were able to share some of it before it decomposed. I suspect that most of the wood from neighborhoods either gets burned or chipped into mulch.

 

[mkart]

The Fever

I am constantly fighting the fever as I seem to always have people I don't know calling with offers of free wood. I am trying to air dry blanks for lidded boxes and hope my hard efforts of cutting 4" and 5" squares out to air dry pan out. If not that size does burn well in a pit. 🙂

 

[Dudley]

Wow

I just picked up three decent sized (about 4' long and 12-16" long) and one HUGE (26" at one end and 18" at the other by 2 1/2 to 3' long) pieces of what I think is cherry (hardwood, not fruitwood) and was wondering how long I have to turn them. And wala this thread! Excellent!

I end sealed the logs while they are still intact (didn't have time to cut them up today). I'm assuming the same factors apply. They too are in an unheated garage.

 

[MichaelMouse]

I just picked up three decent sized (about 4' long and 12-16" long) and one HUGE (26" at one end and 18" at the other by 2 1/2 to 3' long) pieces of what I think is cherry (hardwood, not fruitwood) and was wondering how long I have to turn them. And wala this thread! Excellent!

I end sealed the logs while they are still intact (didn't have time to cut them up today). I'm assuming the same factors apply. They too are in an unheated garage.

If you're thinking of using the heartwood/sapwood contrast in your turnings, get to them quickly. If you don't mind the sapwood sliding from dramatic white to pale pink with green accents, you may leave it in the log. Cherry keeps for years if it's preserved from insects, but the same process that steams the color into walnut sapwood does it to cherry - and others - if you leave it wet in the log.