Treating the ends of cut dimensional lumber

[fast*st]

Hi there,
couldn't find a good thread that covered this, I just sent a few K bf of
pine to a local sawmill and picking it up soon.

I've heard its good to wax or paint the ends of the wood to keep checking and warping down? This wood will be air seasoned then used to put up a nice lil shed.

Is heating up a tub of paraffin and painting it on good enough? any other suggestions?

=rookie!

-Jason

 

[trimmmed]

Anchorseal is the goods.



https://www.uccoatings.com/prod_anchorseal.php

 

[oldsaw]

Anchorseal is the best. In a bind, latex paint. I've used latex paint on hardwoods for years with no real bad experiences. But, no denying that Anchorseal is the real thing.

Mark

 

[redprospector]

I just use old "house paint" for my wood. I find it works well to paint the end of the logs before they are milled.

Andy

 

[Ianab]

End coating of softwood isn't usually done. It dries fast and doesn't usually end check. If it's just 2x4 and 2x6s for building, no need.

Hardwoods it's usually worth doing as the wider boards and higher shrinkage causes more end splitting

Cheers

Ian

 

[woodshop]

End coating of softwood isn't usually done. It dries fast and doesn't usually end check. If it's just 2x4 and 2x6s for building, no need.
Hardwoods it's usually worth doing as the wider boards and higher shrinkage causes more end splitting
Ian

I have come to the same conclusion. I never paint or seal the ends of my softwoods (cedar, pine, hemlock) or poplar for that matter, as they dry quickly with little problems. Just not worth the time it takes to do so.

 

[stonykill]

the only time I seal the ends of pine is on the 4 x 4 stock that is the starting point of my table legs. I seal them with shellac as soon as they are undercover. Otherwise they split bigtime. All my other pine I don't seal .I also use shellac on all the birch I mill, again, only if it is be under cover. I have milled birch, let it dry outdoors for 3 weeks, cut the splits out, shellaced the ends, and moved them right next to a hot air vent in my shop, they don't split, and the last batch was down to 10% in around 4 weeks, after it was moved indoors. This fall is the 1st I have milled birch, so this might just be normal, but I thought the shellac worked great.

 

[fast*st]

Thanks for the great info, someone just gave me a bunch of paraffin wax, seems it'd be easy to warm it up then brush it onto the wood ends where needed, I also have a 4x8 heartwood beam, so it sounds like treating the ends of that is important, but how about side checks, how do you reduce those?

Have a happy new year soon.