I have read many topics discussing the alternatives to Anchor Seal, but I have not seen any of them mention wood glue.
I have been using Elmers wood glue and just smearing it on by hand.
I have never used anything else, so I wonder how much better it could be.
Another thing I was thinking about is if there might be a standard list of colors for hardwoods? I have painted the end grain of my wood certain colors so that I can identify it just by looking at the end of a board that might be in a stack. Red-red oak, white-white oak, etc. But after that it sort of falls apart. :D
Thanks
How does the glue compare with the cost of Anchorseal?
If wood glue works for you then it is probably the way for you to go. ;)
Do you get any checking or any other measure of success with the glue?
Dr. Bob Rice (U of ME) and I did some research at VA Tech on using Elmer's for coating and slowing drying. It worked well, although, as the previous post indicates, the cost was a bit too high.
Here is what happened...Bob and I had just coated the lumber and the school called Bob and asked him to go and pick up his child who had gotten sick. So, Bob went. I, to help him out, drove the lift truck from the end of the sawmill to the kilin...maybe 200 feet. However, I had not thought about the fact that coated lumber is slippery, so when I put on the brakes, the load slid off the lift and onto the gravel roadway. We quickly picked up the lumber, stacked it in the kiln, and closed the doors and started the kiln. When Bob got back, we told him that we had added a bit extra to the lumber, but all was OK. He was quite surprised the next day when he opened the kiln to take MC readings and saw the lumber with lots of pea gravel glued on. If you see Bob in Maine, ask him about the time he glued gravel to lumber.
Sounds like something a planer blade salesman would do. ;D
:D :D :D
Quote from: beenthere on July 31, 2013, 12:04:47 PM
How does the glue compare with the cost of Anchorseal?
If wood glue works for you then it is probably the way for you to go. ;)
Do you get any checking or any other measure of success with the glue?
Cost wise, I don't know about better alternative, but a quick check online shows the wood glue at about $15/gal and the Anchor Seal at $23
Success? It definitely helps, but there is still some checking at the heart, but I don't know that anything could stop that.
One more thing from that study was a reminder of not to add water to lumber that is partially dry. Some of the lumber was partially dry and the water in the glue opened up the surface checks in the end.
Anchorseal, the original formula, is worth every penny.
I was a skeptic of anchorseal too. I ordered one gallon and it seemed to last forever, and now the lumber I used it on doesn't have to have a foot cut off of each side because of splits. I always have anchorseal now. One gallon goes a long ways.
I don't think the wood glue would be flexible enough to really "hold on" like anchorseal when the wood shrinks. Wood glue also isn't really waterproof or able to hold back moisture like wax is. I'm with the others - Anchorseal is definitely worth it. It is thinner than wood glue so I bet a gallon would last longer. I bought it in a 5 gallon bucket 3-4 years ago...still haven't used half, still good too.
I use Anchorseal by the five gallon bucket, and go through several buckets a year. I've tried a few other things, but this stuff just works so well I don't worry about the cost anymore, its relatively minor compared the cost of ruined lumber.
I also used to color code my wood ends with spray paint, but don't do that anymore because it obscures the end grain, and you can tell a lot about a board during the stages of processing if you can easily see the end grain.
YH
I was thinking this morning that to some readers some of the comments might not make sense because the lack of a full description of the study by Rice & Wengert. All the surfaces of the boards were covered with glue, not just the end of the boards as is typically done with Anchorseal. This is why the boards were slick. If Anchorseal is applied to all the surfaces of the boards, it too would cause the boards to be slick and cause the stack to be unstable. Also, some of the boards were partially dried so that when the glue containing water was applied, the surface swelled and with further drying the surface checks opened up. On the boards that were not partially dried, the glue was reported to work well.
As a side note, sealers do not need to STOP the transfer of water, but just to slow the transfer of water to the air.
And I believe anchorseal does a very, very good job of that. If you coat a small area on a turning blank, the surround wood will eventually dry to EMC, but the wood under the wax will still be significantly more wet.
Thanks.
You guys like the Anchor Seal 2 or the original?
Oftentimes, the original was put on too thin. So, the improved formula is a bit thicker to allow for better application by a less than perfect applicator.
Is that the only difference?
Online it says anchorseal I was the original all natural formula and anchorseal II is made with a few modern polymers.
I still use the original, but you have to call them directly to get it. The original formula is not available on-line. I thought that the new potion was an "environmentalized" version of the old formula.
And here I thought the new version just had some sort of anti-freeze added :) Mine does anyways.
I have left mine in freezing temps before and it didnt seem to affect it
They make the coatings with and without antifreeze...in the past and I assume still do.