The Forestry Forum

Just a quick question for you guys, i don town a mill (yet) but my co worker has the LT28 and I work with him on small jobs, though he is new to milling also and is like me trying to gain knowledge. I had a guy give me three walnut lots this morning that were cut six weeks ago. They were not sealed when they were cut, are logs like this that have been cut for a while that where not sealed good candidates for milling? Thanks for any help.

End sealing keeps the end of the log from drying faster and checking (cracking).
The lumber from the log will still be fine. You may lose some length.

Certainly.

The mill I sawed at never sealed any logs. We did try to saw our grade logs up asap and keep them in the shadier locations in the mill yard, or at least piled where they would shade each other, but we never sealed a log there in 25 years that I was there.

Good advice above already.  Walnut logs last a long time, especially if laying on the ground or otherwise kept as wet as possible.  6 weeks is nothing, except for whatever cracking on the ends has already occurred.  Sealing slows this but only where cracks haven't already started.  To do your best, trim off a little to eliminate the small cracks and seal them.  Keep them in the shade. After sawing, seal the ends in a couple of inches. If you sawed without sealing you can just trim each board and seal once then.

Six Weeks?? Naww..they're not any good NOW...I'll be over later to haul them off for ya... :D