I need to come up with an alternative to anchorseal. Commercially available or home made. No one here in AK carries it. Closest dealer is in BC Canada or Washington state. I called the company today to see if I could order mfg direct and they said yes. Sent me to someone else to do the order and the nice young lady said hold up a minute and let me check shipping before we proceed. Yep, you guessed it. Shipping costs as much as the product. I can't pay almost $200 for a five gallon pail. Shipping would be similar if ordered from WA state as well. Not too sure I could get it from BC and I imagine shipping etc to be as much.
What are some alternatives? If commercial it needs to be able to be sourced at Home Depot or Lowes.
Anyone have a suitable home made concoction?
What is it that you will be end coating?
Anchorseal isn't something that must be used... it will stop some end-checking on logs and lumber, but that loss to end checks must be weighed against the cost of end sealing. IMO
I use W.R. Meadows 1300 Clear as an alternative to Anchorseal. It is a wax emulsion that looks and acts the same as Anchorseal IMO. Anchorseal costs $87 a bucket I think, Meadows 1300 is $32 to $35 (in the lower 48), and it is usually in stock at my local construction supply house, so no shipping. It is a concrete sealer or curing compound. Valley Block and Concrete in Wasilla mentions on their website that they sell concrete sealer. If it is a stock item with them you could try using that. If they don't have 1300 clear you could use 1600 series too, it is just 1300 with titanium dioxide tinting added, so it dries white instead of clear, it is $40 a bucket I think. Same wax emulsion otherwise. Neither 1300 or 1600 should be allowed to freeze according to the labeling. Don't use any of the other Meadows sealers, they are acrylics or resins, not waxes and will not act the same. Other manufactures make wax emulsion sealers too.
May sound silly, but did u price a drum, shipped? I don't know how much you could use, but think I might go for the drum next order...I could be wrong, and maybe the next size up is the big ag. sized cube...
In my milling career I sawed millions and millions of feet of lumber. Not one single board or one single log was end coated.
Lumber for farm use never gets sealed.
The only ends I seal are my table and bench slabs that will be air drying for a couple of years.
Interesting... I never used to end coat anything, half because of disorganization, the other half because of lack of knowledge... Since I tightened the reigns, and started applying anchorseal to everything, I can notice a significant difference in the minimalisation of end checks and even drying...
My logs and lumber sit around a little longer then a production mill :D, so if I have some decent hardwood that I have plans for I will end seal it so I don't lose the investment of my time. All my turning blanks get sealed too, no fun turning cracked wood. And at $32 for 5 gallons, it's not exactly a deal breaker. 5 gallons last me a year. I don't worry about pine or fence boards or lowboy decking etc., just the better stuff that I am drying.
I bet the wood from the big mills gets on a tractor trailer and off to the furniture plant or whatever before the wood can even start drying.
I used to grind bark for a hardwood mill and I would watch them spray Anchorseal out of 55 gallon drums on all the lumber that came off the line close to the bark pile where I worked. They also had water sprayers set up on all their log piles in the summertime.
A cheap and easy alternative to Anchorseal is any kind of roof coating thinned down enough with kerosene or diesel so you can more easily brush it on. Asphalt based anything will work fine. Whether it's the aluminized stuff or blackjack, it'll all work fine. Actually, the aluminum mobile home roof coating is thin enough to paint on as-is in the bucket after some rugged stirring. Any kind of old, unwanted paint will work. Melted wax will work. The idea is to slow down the evaporation out from the ends of the wood. Heck, I bet you could even slather on some lard and it'll work!
I rarely endcoat my boards or logs. Only thing I've coated recently was some large black cherry slabs I'll be using for counter tops eventually. I used some over 10 year old Walmart spray paint. No checks in 9 months or so and cherry likes to crack.
The ERC logs that I sawed Saturday had been painted with what looked to be latex house paint. Completely unnecessary, especially with ERC.
I had painted some of the first oak boards I sawed with some old varnish. Last time I checked the pile of lumber, there was no end checking at all on the ends.
Goto Lowes, Home depot, Sears, Walmart or what ever and buy the latex paint returns. (wrong colors or whatever)
They are very glad to get rid of it. Most of the time they will give it to you.
Most of the time they need to pay for disposel.
We had a large flooring mill. They probably had 5 acres covered with stacks of stickered oak 10 foot tall. Not a single board had end sealer on it.
I sometimes use Anchorseal on special logs but most get no attention. An alternative is to cut your logs a little extra long. When your ready to saw cut off the extra. Put the lumber on sticks with a small overhang on the ends. That end stick will stop most checks. When later processing I usually waste a bit off the end of each board just to insure I don't have a snipe from the jointer/planer.
I have used a coating called Silver Dollar. Its a fibered aluminum roof coating paint for mobile homes. Something similar should be available in your location. Don't use Black Jack or roofing tar....the blade drags the tar through the cut. What a mess. Try the Silver Dollar on a test log first, as it has been years since I used it.
I don't think paint does much good. Just not thick enough. In fact when I do use Anchorseal I'll put on two coats.
A neighbor walnut mill heats a 55 gallon drum with paraffin in the bottom quarter. All there gunstock blanks are dipped immediately after sawing. I use something similar for lathe turning blocks.
We have used drive way sealer we get at Lowes. It was $15.00 for a 5 gal bucket and you need to mix it
up each time. Also keep it from freezing.
Sawwood
I'm lovin' all these cheap ideas from real world experience. "Country boys can survive" and all that. It's a beautiful thing.
Quote from: Kbeitz on February 22, 2016, 08:46:33 PM
Goto Lowes, Home depot, Sears, Walmart or what ever and buy the latex paint returns. (wrong colors or whatever)
They are very glad to get rid of it. Most of the time they will give it to you.
Most of the time they need to pay for disposel.
Not out here! I used to buy mis-mix light colors to paint my workshop to brighten it up. I could get gallons for $1.00 and 5 gallon tubs for $4.00. Now that paint is $20+ per gallon new, they charge $5.00/gal mis-mixed! :o
It's also $5.00 here.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/2410/DSCN0684.JPG)
I use the mis-matched red for property lines.
Ny last batch cost me $20.00 for 15 gal and a bunch of little cans extra for free.
I also get free paint from the auto paint shops. But I dont think that would work good for sealing wood.
When I worked at a circle mill they would use boiled linseed oil with
parafin melted into it.
Used a paint can 3/4 full (linseed) add 1 piece of wax heat till melted.
Once mixed it will stay for weeks.
Only used on high grade logs.
Thanks for the replies and suggestions. Guess I'll go to Home depot and raid the mistint section for a gallon or two. Our birch are real bad about end checking and thought I'd try anchorseal to slow that down along with sealing a few of my bowl blanks destined for the lathe.
Quote from: WLC on February 23, 2016, 08:38:56 PM
Thanks for the replies and suggestions. Guess I'll go to Home depot and raid the mistint section for a gallon or two. Our birch are real bad about end checking and thought I'd try anchorseal to slow that down along with sealing a few of my bowl blanks destined for the lathe.
Try to look for one coat paint. It's thicker and works better. Other stuff might need two coats.
I wish I could afford to buy more boiled linseed oil than I have on hand. It's so expensive nowadays. It's so useful for so many different things. My last project was making old fashioned oil cloth tarps from canvas drop cloths. Thin the oil with paint thinner and spray on, then let dry. It sheds water nicely. But anything it touches gets wet underneath.
a guy had 2 drums of end wax and one was leaking,he told me he would give 20 gal if I would move it to another drum I cut the top off and used a can to xfer the wax, it was mixed with ammonia,there were no labels on the drums so I don't know what kind it is,but it sure works good,dose anchor seal have ammonia in it?
lewis - what's the purpose of the ammonia? Is it used as a carrier which acts like a thinner and then evaporates away leaving behind the wax?
that's what I assumed, it was almost as if the wax was dissolved in ammonia,I had to stir it as it had separated
Most of my clients don't end coat their logs but a few do. AnchorSeal, or similar products, are much preferred for a couple of reasons. Primarily it is because of its ability to do the job, some paint doesn't seal very well, sealer's like Thompsons soak in but don't really seal the pores.
The tar-based products, driveway sealer or roof coating, make a mess, gum up the blade and leave stains on the milled surface. :(
A big concern with opaque products like roof sealer or the paints, is that you can't read the grain of the log accurately, and you obscure things like blue stain in oaks or black stain in walnut. :(
I dont know if it was something that I did wrong while drying, but some of the first walnut I milled I put several coats of latex paint on to seal the ends and the wood dried without splitting open. But when I machined it there were fine cracks that developed that look like the fibers seperated, but didn't split apart and the wood would break real easy in first foot of a board. After that I stoped painting it and just let it split where it wants to and have no more surprises.
Quote from: dutchman on February 23, 2016, 08:42:06 AM
When I worked at a circle mill they would use boiled linseed oil with
parafin melted into it.
Used a paint can 3/4 full (linseed) add 1 piece of wax heat till melted.
Once mixed it will stay for weeks.
Only used on high grade logs.
Had a client that sealed his logs in a similar fashion. He used paraffin wax melted down and thinned with mineral spirits. Very similar results to Anchorseal, and I could still see the growth rings when the log was on the mill.
This is the classic recipe for Waxoil - a protectant for metal surfaces against corrosion. I've never used it, but many people swear by it much like others swear by Fluid Film. I'm in the latter group.
I've had my first bout with Anchor Seal and the stuff is great. I didn't like using paint as I ended up with slab wood that I sell with paint on the ends. Its much easier to paint the logs than boards.
For those who do end coat, I get a lot of waste while applying it with a 4" brush. Seems a sprayer would be better, do you guys have any ideas on a simple hand pump sprayer or is there a better way to apply it without all the waste dripping?
If you do not have an abundance of lumber such as walnut and cherry I would say Anchorseal is the perfect option. I have focused on Slabs and thick pieces for making furniture and I like the moisture readings in the wood near the anchor sealed ends is similar to a puncture in the middle of the wood with my moisture meter.
I guess it depends how much material you have and sizes you are cutting, stocking, etc. Also there is no chance I would let some of the options above hit my tools, Anchorseal I never had an issue with.
FYI - those small checks mean most likely the material was not dry enough, don't think it was the sealer that caused that.
Latex paint doesn't work very well -- it tends to breathe, which is exactly what you don't want. I've seen some very nice birch logs ruined because the owner ignored everyone's advice and used latex paint on the ends.
I read wax will work? my wife is in the soy candle business, always 10 gallons of soy wax hot and ready... I would only do the slabs that are drying for extended time...
I have been melting bees' wax and applying with a chip brush. It seals the ends well and before I get the ends coated several honey bees stop by to visit. It also smells really good.
End coating is suppose to slow or stop the end of logs or lumber from drying. If the ends dry faster than the rest of the lumber, they shrink and create stress that can result in end checks. Some species shrink less than others, so low shrinkage means low stress. Low stress means low benefit from end coating.
So, not all species need end coating. However, for many species, like birch, oak, walnut, and maple, end coating means no end checks due to drying if the coating is put on thick enough, if the coating stops or greatly retards drying (latex paint often does not), and if the coating is applied before any checks occur.
The coating makes the lumber more useful to the ultimate user and means a log can be a few inches shorter, which means the next log up the tree is a bit larger is diameter, etc.
Maybe Anchorseal will let the OP be a sales outlet for AK. That might save money. I could always throw a 5 gal. Bucket in my RV when I come to AK.
Anchorseal works and so do some of the alternatives mentioned. Anchorseal is easy to apply...spray or brush. It is not flammable, compared to paraffin. It can have antifreeze...many other products get very stiff when cold in AK compared to cold weather here in the South. It is in water so has no harmful emissions as it cures. Finally, it can be colored red to remind everyone about the great Univ of WI Badgers, and the Bulldogs of U of GA. That should really help lumber sales.
elastomeric roof coating $16/gal at menards it is white and thick will not let logs or boards crack
Tim
This stuff is about $17 a gallon delivered (admittedly not everywhere) and I heard it works great.
http://uccoatings.com/product/anchorseal-2-5gallon/
Quote from: GeneWengert-WoodDoc on April 05, 2016, 05:54:20 PM
Maybe Anchorseal will let the OP be a sales outlet for AK. That might save money. I could always throw a 5 gal. Bucket in my RV when I come to AK.
Finally, it can be colored red to remind everyone about the great Univ of WI Badgers, and the Bulldogs of U of GA. That should really help lumber sales.
When and where are you coming to here in our great state? If it works out I might just take you up on your offer.
I like the idea of UGA red colored anything. Went to school there many moons ago and worked at the Forestry Sciences Lab there on campus for about 10 years.
Quote from: GeneWengert-WoodDoc on April 05, 2016, 05:54:20 PM
Finally, it can be colored red to remind everyone about the great Univ of WI Badgers, and the Bulldogs of U of GA. That should really help lumber sales.
:D :D
I have had heard that one gal. of wood glue mixed with one qt. of water is excellent alternative
Home Depot and I'm sure all the big box stores sells a product called "Red Guard." It's make for waterproofing walls before installing tile such as a shower. I've used it to seal many leaks. I'm sure it would work well for sealing logs
I've been using whatever leftover latex paint I have. Interior or exterior, and it seems to work good. Had god awful red, and really crappy blue, and was glad to get rid of them. People thought I had them color coded by species, which I may start doing!