Anchorseal Alternative

Mike Turner

Member
Messages
361
Location
Laurinburg NC
Help !! I have a lot of this maple cut and am sealing endgrain as much as I can. I only have one gal anchorseal but will only be able to seal just the endgrain...I have some latex paint ,some sheallac and some woodworkers glue I may could use...I will stack in coolest place , some under my house and the rest in the shade...I dont want to lose any more of this than possible...Helpppppp !! Thanks

I wont be able to turn any of this any time soon !!
 
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i dont turn mike but have sealed many logs for lumber and latext paint will work as a alternative, but anchorseal is better.

It's worked for me in the past. Usually it can be found at a BORG for cheap, just look on the special order table with the stuff people didn't pick up.
 
I, too, have used leftover latex paint, and it worked but not as well as Anchorseal.

One of my sawyer friends (with expert drying skills, etc.) swears by oil base paint as better than latex.
 
One of my sawyer friends (with expert drying skills, etc.) swears by oil base paint as better than latex.

Presumably due to it penetrating/bonding better?

What I've seen with latex is that it tends not to bond very well to end grain so if the wood moves it peels off or at least stretches/splits and you're left without a lot of love. Combined with it not penetrating much it didn't seem to help me a whole lot on the few pieces I've tried it on. I could see oil based alleviating some of those issues, will have to give it a shot (I can easily get paint locally in discount bins :D)

I had somewhat better luck with ~2-3 coats of primer (kilz I think..) as at least it stayed on/in the wood - although I still had some significant splitting (but I might have with anchorseal to so.. yeah). This was comparing boards from the same log - I ran out of primer part way through and slapped some latex on the rest :D
 
I use white carpenters glue thinned 50/50 with water, use warm water (NOT HOT!!) so it's easier to mix.
I find it works very well, the PVA glue when dry will remain a bit flexible, which is the key to sealing wood.

Cheers!
 
following on from Stu. I use a latex water based paint and the PVA paper glue. 4Litres of paint to 500mls glue [or a gallon and a pint] . I use PVA paper glue as its cheaper than regular PVA and works just fine.
 
I am not sure which white glue Stu and Neil are recommending, but beware.... The white PVA from Borden has two different types, in almost identical containers. "School glue" has adequate but minimal strength, and is designed to wash out of kids clothes easily. The general purpose white glue is close to yellow carpenter's glue in strength, but more reversible. I have heard of luthiers using the white glue rather than hide glue for instruments, and sometimes for furniture (the usual "joint is stronger than the wood" claim, and easier to remove smears.)
 
I recently tried the latex on the endgrain of some fresh cut cherry. It totally soaked into the sapwood, almost couldn't see I had ever painted it. The wood still checked too, don't know if it would have anyway or not. I don't know but I had assumed that the reason people don't usually use oil base is both cost and do we really want to be breathing in the fine dust from the oil paint? May not be an issue but it seems that snorting latex might be a bit safer, of course good filtration or fresh air would be nice.

I am inclined to give the glue a try next time around. Used to get a nice thick coat on the school desk playing with it, seems like it would be great for the purpose. A fleeting thought: Anyone ever try the flour and water paste? Been about fifty years since I have made some but I may play with it. One thing, the price would be right.

Hu
 
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