Drying wood - painting ends and bark

[RogerS]

I've seen reference on the forum to painting the ends to prevent early drying there. Gloss paint has been suggested.

Is that because most people usually have the odd tin lying around or would any similar covering do such as polyurethane varnish? Microporous wood oil?


Bark removal - I've seen one recommendation to remove the bark in case of nasty insects underneath and another recommendation to keep it so that drying out is more gradual. Any suggestions?

Last question :lol: Is there a good book out there ?

 

[jasonB]

Just about anything except emulsion will do to seal the ends, whatever you have spare.

As your planks are quite thin and wide the bark will not have much affect on the drying. Bugs could be a possibility but I've not had problems.

Jason

 

[Gill]

I find the best way of sealing the end grain is to brush melted paraffin waxover it. That said, gloss paint is much easier to apply and clean up after. I've had a lovely day splashing paint over the ends of my newly acquired stash :roll:.

If you do use gloss paint, be generous. I may have to give mine a second coat tomorrow, just to be sure I've got it sealed properly.

Gill

 

[CHJ]

...snip...
Bark removal - I've seen one recommendation to remove the bark in case of nasty insects underneath and another recommendation to keep it so that drying out is more gradual. Any suggestions?...snip...

Tried removing bark from some ash logs and it enhanced the Star Shakes (splitting) due to rapid moisture loss from the surface, I don't do it now.

On one batch of Birch that had enough wildlife (Bark beetles) to walk around on its own I sprayed the bark with "Polysect" and that knocked them on the head, the beetles vacated and the grubs died in situ.

 

[tigerturnings]

Last question :lol: Is there a good book out there ?

A general overview of seasoning, including a brief mention of end coatings and quite some detail on medium and small scale kilns is provided in "The Conversion and Seasoning of Wood" (William H Brown, ISBN: 0-85442-037-1, Stobart Davies). At around £16 I personally am not sure it represents good value compared to some other books on my shelf, but it does provide useful information. Of course, the value of any book depends on your own current knowledge, the kind of work you do, etc., so others may well disagree with me here.

You could also take a look through the freely available documents from The Forest Products Laboratory in the USA. Especially in this case, "Drying hardwood lumber" under the "Notable Publications" section should be of use. I haven't read it all yet but it does look to be a comprehensive document.

 

[Scott]

"The Conversion and Seasoning of Wood" (William H Brown, ISBN: 0-85442-037-1, Stobart Davies). At around £16 I personally am not sure it represents good value compared to some other books on my shelf, but it does provide useful information.

Very well put!