Chestnut

Drew Watson

Member
Messages
2,070
Location
Salt Spring Island, BC Canada
Have an offer of some fresh chestnut as a fellow is trimming the top and some branches off his chest nut tree. How is chestnut for turning? is it better to turn fresh or to dry it out first and how long does it take to air dry?
 
Chestnut turns very well, but you do need to inspect it closely before turning. It has a tendency to separate between the rings and can cause havoc at the lathe. good luck........Tony
 
Thanks for the advice Tony. I picked up a few good chunks from the tree today. I could have gotten lots more but thought I would be reserved about it as i have never turned it before. No point getting lots of stuff that might turn out to be a waste of time. I watched the fellow make one cut and the water just started to pour out of the tree like a hose was turned on. Very wet wood. I was given the remainder of a can of ??? (no name on it) by one of the guild members but I used it all up. I picked up some log sealer from LV today to see how it works ( seems to be ok). Any advise on a good sealer? Is there any other option other than buying sealer?
 
Drew, I think most of us are using a wax-based emulsion like Anchor Seal for sealing green wood. In a pinch, you can also use latex paint. (We all seem to have an old can or two of some funky '80s-era mauve paint hiding in the shop.) Although it's probably not as effective as Anchor Seal, a couple coats of latex can provide some protection.
 
I bought a gallon of this from Rockler's
30169-01-200.jpg
several years ago. Works good.
 
Drew, I have used both Anchorseal and the Green Wood End Sealer that Don speaks of. Both of them have worked great so far. Can you get either of those where you live?
 
I found an old post on another Forum that asked the same question and they say that Cloverdale paints here sell a similar product. I will go pay them a visit tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for the help and advice.
 
I bought a gallon of this from Rockler's
30169-01-200.jpg
several years ago. Works good.

That's essentially the same stuff as Anchor Seal. After going through a couple gallons of the Rockler stuff my first year, I bought a 5-gallon bucket of Craft Supplies' version. (Looks like they only sell in quarts and gallons now.) I'm about 2/3 of the way through the bucket now. I've been tending to turn most of my green wood fairly soon after getting it, so I've not been using as much sealer lately as I have in the past. (It also helps that I've had several hauls of nearly dry wood in the past year or so than didn't really need any sealant.)
 
That is great to know Frank. Thanks as i keep things like that in an unheated garage. It doesn't matter so much this time of year but we do get the odd cold day near freezing in the winter. I have lost a few cans is misc products due to that.



I lost about 1" deep in a 5 gallon bucket to freezing. Its kinda like curds and whey, it separates and can't be remixed. FYI, the "winterized" form is quite a bit runnier than the regular stuff; way lower viscosity. It is really a pain to try and get a really thick coat on blanks when you're processing a lot of wood at a time because it runs down the side of the blanks. I have to coat all the blanks on one side, then wait for it to dry. then flip, then the other side, etc. Really a pain with woods that check badly requiring wax on all 6 sides of the blank! I keep meaning to get a mini-roller to try that out. Maybe they've resolved whatever issue makes mine runnier than the non winterized that I used before.
 
I went to Cloverdale paints today and they can bring in a product called Check stop in 5 gallon drums at 150.00.

Not exactly cheap is it.

If you could find some other guys to split that 5 gallons, might be worth it :dunno:

Have you tried any of the turning clubs, maybe they do a group buy :rolleyes: :D
 
I usually buy Anchorseal in 1 gallon jugs for $20. Been thinking about ordering a 5 gallon bucket. I have been trying to find a source for large quantities of paraffin. Anyone have an Idea? I noticed that many of the bowl blank suppliers dip the blanks in paraffin and figure they must have a cheap source. I do get occasional failures using anchorseal, even though I usually coat the blanks twice on the end grain.
 
I usually buy Anchorseal in 1 gallon jugs for $20. Been thinking about ordering a 5 gallon bucket. I have been trying to find a source for large quantities of paraffin. Anyone have an Idea? I noticed that many of the bowl blank suppliers dip the blanks in paraffin and figure they must have a cheap source. I do get occasional failures using anchorseal, even though I usually coat the blanks twice on the end grain.

I think you have to use turpentine to dissolve paraffin. That could be expensive and stinky. Dunno wat Anchorseal magic formula is, they say it is water based. Lemme know when y'all dissolve paraffin in water.
Offering two or three gallons to friends in my wood turning club, it goes fast and I use the rest.
 
Drew,...(We all seem to have an old can or two of some funky '80s-era mauve paint hiding in the shop.)....

What's wrong with Mauve? :eek: Went on a rant a while back and rid myself of partial cans of Latex paint. Then, of course, I needed some for sealing ends. HD to the rescue... ever see those rejects and off color cans by the checkout. A quart for a buck. Now my logs are a beautiful yellowish lime green on the ends, Sharpie marks them with date and species... :thumb:
 
drew woodcraft has it as well. and to the guy that had trouble with the winterized version i have had no trouble and have gone threw several gallons of it and the freezing hasnt hurt it either. the best way to put it on i have found for logs and blanks is a roller, used to pip blanks if they would fit but that was a mess. now just put them on a expanded metal top bench and roll away flip over and do it again.
 
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