Red Eucalyptus - Sealing

Dan Mosley

Member
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1,169
Location
Palm Springs, Ca
Work cut down a Red Euc and I was able to get a bit of it. I cut up most of it into blanks and sealed them with anchor seal. I was told that Red Euc cracks easily but it really has some beautiful coloring so I thought sealing it and then placing it inside my garage under a work bench would work out for storing.

After about a week it started to show some cracking on some of the blanks. So today I got off early and decided to try another angle on sealing. I came home and cut off any visable cracks on the ones that had them then sealed them again (Total 2 coats). Then wrapped them in either plastic liner bags or syran wrap - then stacked them up under another work bench. The ones that had bark on them were not sealed or wrapped on the bark. Also, I sealed with two coats several other blanks and stacked them side by side to see if there are any significant differences in the drying.

Other pictures show some longer logs there were not cut at all. These I am saving to turn some larger, longer and much deeper vessels when I have the time. They are sitting outside in the shade and so far no cracking or checking. The ends were sealed x2 with anchor seal.

Last couple pictures are a couple of finish turned vessels that are drying with just MS/BLO sparyed on the inside only - sitting out on my counter top where I can watch them - 5 days old now and MC is 5-8% and without cracking.

I read where some turner was using 50/50 water and glue to wash coat the outside of his vessels - let dry - sand - etc....... I can not see how this would work well - you would clog up your sandpaper in a couple turns trying to cut thru the dried glue - I have never tired it ............probably wont either....lol
 

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Dan, Many of the Eucs are very unstable, seal all your blanks and place in cool dark spot out of any breeze etc. Season them as slow as you can, dont be in a hurry.
I tend to place them in water for a few weeks, draining the water often, removing the blanks when the water remains clear. Then leave them briefly to dry the out side, seal and place in paper sacks or cardboard boxes several at a time. Store as said in the back some where, cool, dark with stable temps.

If you can determine what type of Euc you have as this will help greatly, currently I think we have over 300 varieties here in Aust.
 
Dan, I've had mixed luck with the red ironbark eucalyptus. Sometimes it cracks, sometimes it doesn't. Most of mine was cut 3 or 4 years ago, sealed with Anchor Seal, and stored in the shade in my back yard. I'd say about half of it has stayed crack-free since then, and the blanks that have cracked only have one or two cracks, and I can either make smaller blanks or turn as-is and make the cracks a feature.

I'd be leery of sealing the blanks in Saran wrap. There's a good chance you'll get mold on the blanks, and it won't likely be the nice kind (spalting). Instead, it'll be the more dangerous black mold that can stain the wood and mess up your lungs. (Or mess them up worse than spalted wood.)
 
Neil - Vaughn..................Yeah I have tomm off and im going to take them out of the syran wrap - very good point about the mold.....thanks......leaving them coated x 2 with Anchor seal - will leave some stacked up under my work bench in the garage and im going to put some into a Rubber Maid trash can with a lid on it in the garage also. Ill see what happens that way - Today, I took the ones that were stacked up and looked them over and found some of them cracking/checking so I cut them again and sealed x 2 on the fresh cut areas - Time consuming but I really want to try to hand on to as much of it as i can - It sure has beautiful coloring in the wood.

I do not want to season them for 6mo or a yr - Like in the photo below (and above) I have turned several now and I have not lost any to cracking yet. if I can get more time to turn them I think I can keep them from cracking.......been a week now and longer on the ones in the photos - using MS/BLO mix with blow gun and spinning them fast before removing from lathe - has been working out well on pepperwood and this red euc..........So far......crossing my fingers now.....
LOL .................
 

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Dan, Glad to see your success, looks like you have aone of the more stable varieties of Euc. I must admit there very few 'general rules' for Euc due to the huge variation. But I am glad your on a win and look forward to see more of the results as you turn ,em out.:thumb:
 
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