Preserving green bowls

[wndopdlr]

I am going to be turning some green, Black Cherry bowls. I have always used the shavings/paper bag, wait six month procedure, but I am wondering about coating the ruffed bowls with Anchorseal2 before putting them down for their nap.
Anybody ever done this and, if so, what was your results? Did it impact the finish you applied after you finished turning the bowls. Seems like Anchorseal2 has a very minor penetration and is mostly a surface coat, so it seems it would be eliminated in the final turning'
Your thoughts please.
Wally

 

[bob vaughan]

Once the round slug is turned into a bowl blank, seal the end grain and leave a stripe of exposed side grain so the moisture can escape. Its the end grain that splits and ruins a bowl blank and not the side grain.
Below is green dyed anchorseal. I prefer it because there's no ugly finish surprise when you miss a removing a spot.
Been doing it this way for 25 years.

 

[mkepke]

What's the advantage over the shavings + paper bag approach? I can see it getting spendy for all that Anchorseal.

-Mark

 

[bob vaughan]

I did the paper bag thing for a while. Many of the pros attested to the speed and convenience of Anchorseal. I tried a gallon and found they were right. Also there were far fewer failures in the bowl blanks. Considering the effort to process a log, this was the biggest advantage. Storage for drying a large number of roughed out bowl blanks was a lot easier too.
Wiping on that waxy mess is an annoyance but the end results was well worth it.

Below is clear Anchorseal being applied to a bowl blank.

 

[SabertoothBunny]

From my experienc,e and a variety of forums, the bag of shvings doesn't really do anything. AnchorSeal or AnchorSeal II is the best way to go. You go wax the entire bowl or just the end grain as described above. Store the bowls in a dark, dry place with a contolled climate and forget about them for a couple of months.

 

[wndopdlr]

Thanks guys. Bob, I like the idea of the dyed product. Did you just at some dye to Anchorseal you bought, or did you actually find tinted somewhere.

 

[Roy G]

Whatever you do to the bowl blanks, I would recommend waiting closer to a year before trying to finish turn them. Some woods take longer than others to stabilize.

Roy G

 

[bob vaughan]

Thanks guys. Bob, I like the idea of the dyed product. Did you just at some dye to Anchorseal you bought, or did you actually find tinted somewhere.

The dye colors in Anchorseal has been around for decades but its usually purchased by lumber processors for their own in-house marking system for the species of logs being processed. I think anyone that's familiar with using commercially processed lumber will have seen the various colors on the ends of boards.
Our woodturner's club bought a 55 gallon drum with the green dye once and that's why the green color on those bowls.
I'm not sure that food coloring couldn't be added to a gallon of Anchorseal with no ill effects.

 

[djvanduy]

When I first started out I bagged roughed bowls. I may have even anchor sealed them and then put them in the bags. Not really sure at this point. The bags didn't hold up well due to mold, wetness, etc. I just anchorseal the roughed bowls and let them go. As stated above the bowls will fail along the endgrain so that is the most important spots to hit. Additionally, I believe that wall thickness consistency is really important. The wood will dry at different rates if the thickness is off creating stress zones in certain spots that may cause the rouged bowl to fail. Its a pain to rough a bunch of bowls only to come back in a year and see alot of them have fatal cracks in them.

Here is some more info about blank gathering if interested as well... Everything You Need to Get Great Free Wood for Wood Turning Blanks