End coat maples ?

Denny · September 03, 2016, 08:00:38 PM

Do you guys coat the ends of your hard and soft maples ?

GeneWengert-WoodDoc · September 03, 2016, 08:15:50 PM

It is a good idea for all thicknesses of hard maple, and 6/4 and thicker soft maple. The oil in the wax may stain the ends slightly.

Den Socling · September 03, 2016, 09:25:46 PM

Unprotected ends of both hard and soft maple will crack in a breeze. Anchorsel vaporizes at the final temperature of kiln drying. The only reason I ever heard for not using a wax emulsion is that the floor becomes dangerously slippy where it is sprayed. Commercial mills get around this by using a spray booth.

YellowHammer · September 04, 2016, 08:45:33 AM

Quote from: Denny on September 03, 2016, 08:00:38 PM
Do you guys coat the ends of your hard and soft maples ?

I only end seal the expensive logs or the ones I don't want to crack. :D

I just did 4,127 Bdft of ambrosia maple, and it was about all I wanted to do.

Seriously, Anchorsealing logs and lumber is a pain but about the only ones I won't seal are pine and cedar. I also won't end seal logs I'm going to quarter saw because it covers up the growth rings and makes it harder for me to see what I'm doing. So in that case, I buck the log, immediately saw it, then seal the pack of lumber with a power sprayer.

Denny · September 05, 2016, 06:47:12 PM

Thanks for the replies guys. I took over my kiln op job from my ex-boss when he got fired a few years ago. He's been this kiln op here for maybe 15 years. He never coated any of the maples with reasoning that it slowed drying enough that it could stain the maple and the end checking is worth it because its better than a stained board. I've always been skeptical of that claim and have never read anything for or against the practice of coating maples. So... thats why I ask the question.

WV Sawmiller · September 05, 2016, 08:16:54 PM

Questioning whether to seal logs reminds me of the sign in my dentist's office "You don't need to brush all your teeth - only the ones you want to keep".

Denny · September 06, 2016, 01:09:41 PM

Just for the record, we're not sealing logs here in my situation.

WV Sawmiller · September 06, 2016, 01:43:42 PM

Quote from: Denny on September 06, 2016, 01:09:41 PM
Just for the record, we're not sealing logs here in my situation.

I confess, I do not seal everything but I sure do seal ash and cherry and walnut. Cherry and Ash are real bad to check so I seal them within minutes of bucking them. Walnut is so high value I seal it too.

GeneWengert-WoodDoc · September 06, 2016, 04:37:03 PM

End coating of maple logs ASAP stops most or all log end stain. I did a study to illustrate and prove this

Denny · September 06, 2016, 09:19:55 PM

Does end coating 4\4 HM & SM really contribute to gray stain across the face of the boards like my old boss told me or is he full of baloney ?
During the months of May, June, July and August our maples are always put in the kiln within two days of purchasing them, and are usually in the kiln immediately after they're stickered. The majority of the species I dry is soft maple and its 4\4 90% of the time. They go into some nice SII kilns with high speed fans pushing about 500 FPM across the packs. I rarely see any stain, even in the hottest most humid of summer. The schedule I use is a low temp one and I can put out a 20,000 bdf charge in 8-9 days. The last thing I want is to start end coating and have stain starting to form. I guess I could experiment with a few sample boards.

GeneWengert-WoodDoc · September 06, 2016, 09:25:22 PM

The main key is that you put them in the kiln within two days. Grey stain takes times to develop...a few days.

The end coating has no effect. Or maybe it does...end coating may give a false sense of protection, so then the logs are not sawn promptly and the lumber is not stacked and into a drying environment promptly.

Also,drying over 105 F initially does darken the wood.

Den Socling · September 06, 2016, 09:51:23 PM

This is drifting off the topic but look how white SM can be.

Denny · September 07, 2016, 10:46:19 AM

"Also,drying over 105 F initially does darken the wood."
Hey doc I asked awhile back about the cores of my SM darkening and I took your advice about "drying over 105 F initially does darken the wood" and it has completely eliminated my dark cores. So thank you for that good advice. The previous kiln op ran the dry bulb temp very high and he had all sorts of staining issues and dark cores. When I took over, I switched to a low temp schedule and now we have white wood. My problem with the dark cores was because I was going over 110 F when I got below 30% MC. Now my DB temp stays at 105 till my high samples dip below 20% and BAM ! no more dark cores. So if anyone out there is experiencing darkening of their maple cores or grey stain, try keeping the temps lower longer. And with the lower temps, I didn't lose any time, it doesn't take me any longer to dry a load of maple with the low temp schedule.

Edit: Wanted to add that my vents stay open for the majority of the time when I'm drying maples. Venting is key.

Hey Den thats really nice and bright white SM. Vac kiln dried I assume ??

Den Socling · September 07, 2016, 10:54:54 AM

Yes, Denny. Most of the water is removed around 104'.

Denny · September 07, 2016, 02:56:13 PM

Hey Den....

Happy birthday to you, happy birrrrrthdaaaay to you, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEN SOCLING... happy birthday to youuuuuu.

Congrats on 66 successful laps around the sun.