# Anchor seal vs titebond for end sealing?



## motolife313 (Feb 8, 2019)

i can’t find any anchor seal near me in Portland Oregon area but I have titebond and hav used it and seems to work ok. I could order some online if it’s the best stuff but also I have lumber yard near me that has end sealer ment for hard wood. Are most end sealers pretty good?im trying to seal some plum wood I milled up today and cut about 1.5” off the ends of the trunk first so it’s fresh on the ends now. 3” slabs


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## KiwiBro (Feb 8, 2019)

A while back I bought a big drum of PVA glue. It works very well as an end sealer and much cheaper than the dedicated sealers


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## motolife313 (Feb 8, 2019)

I’m thinking the garage may be too cold and I’ll bring them and apply some sealer. The anchor seal I seen on YouTube looked like wood glue lol


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## Sawyer Rob (Feb 8, 2019)

Anchor Seal is best, and is what I use, but some melted paraffin/wax works just as good.

SR


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## Bmac (Feb 9, 2019)

Like Sawyer Rob said..... Anchor Seal


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## kimosawboy (Feb 9, 2019)

Two coats of any latex paint will pretty well equal one coat of anchorseal. I refuse to pay $80 for a gallon of anchorseal when I can get a five gallon pail of latex from 'Restore' for $5. Call me cheap if you want , but I have better things to spend my $$ on.


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## Sawyer Rob (Feb 9, 2019)

kimosawboy said:


> Two coats of any latex paint will pretty well equal one coat of anchorseal. I refuse to pay $80 for a gallon of anchorseal when I can get a five gallon pail of latex from 'Restore' for $5. Call me cheap if you want , but I have better things to spend my $$ on.


 I have found that to NOT be true... BUT, I'm sure IF you keep telling others that it is, you will eventually believe it too... lol

I've tried more than two coats, it's just plain not as good for sealing as Anchorseal...

SR


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## KiwiBro (Feb 9, 2019)

Is this the equivalent of a chainsaw oil thread?


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## Bmac (Feb 10, 2019)

Again, I agree with Sawyer Rob, I've used both and anchorseal was superior. Now if we are sealing the ends of softwoods like pine/cedar and etc it's not as critical. But if I have some primo hardwood like walnut or cherry, using anchorseal is worth the cost.


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## Tenderfoot (Feb 11, 2019)

Anchor seal is like $30-$35 if you buy it by the gallon. I seal the whole board if I have really figured wood like what is shown in the OP typically. It helps as I hate filling checks in the final product.


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## Stonesforbrains (Mar 24, 2019)

Tenderfoot said:


> Anchor seal is like $30-$35 if you buy it by the gallon. I seal the whole board if I have really figured wood like what is shown in the OP typically. It helps as I hate filling checks in the final product.


Ok I spent the $35 on the gallon of anchor deal, used it on some end grain and it dried clear for the most part. I noodled some small red oak slabs that had some very nice burl looking grain that would be good for knife handles. The bark is still on it and I was wondering if I covered the ends and face with the sealer how long would it take to dry naturally through the bark? I want the grain to be as is and not crack. Would it be best to put this up in a dry place for a couple years after sealing it?


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## grizz55chev (Mar 24, 2019)

It’s my understanding that most of the drying happens on the end grain, think of a box of straws. Sealing the face will have little to no effect other than to waste the sealer and make things harder to work when you’re ready to finish the slabs. Slow drying helps to prevent cracking, checking and warping. Hardwoods, rule of thumb is 1 yr per inch of thickness, soft woods will dry much faster .


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## Stonesforbrains (Mar 24, 2019)

grizz55chev said:


> It’s my understanding that most of the drying happens on the end grain, think of a box of straws. Sealing the face will have little to no effect other than to waste the sealer and make things harder to work when you’re ready to finish the slabs. Slow drying helps to prevent cracking, checking and warping. Hardwoods, rule of thumb is 1 yr per inch of thickness, soft woods will dry much faster .


Well the face is pretty rough and will be difficult to work with a plane anyway so maybe I will just seal the end grain and the middle of the face where I am worried it will crack while it dries. Not really a big deal if one or more pieces don’t work out. Kind of experimenting with it. It was all firewood until my brother in law told me he was looking for burls for knife scales and I got into a tree with black ants and started noodling the bigger rounds. And saw the weird grain patterns. Thanks for the reply!


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## grizz55chev (Mar 24, 2019)

Stonesforbrains said:


> Well the face is pretty rough and will be difficult to work with a plane anyway so maybe I will just seal the end grain and the middle of the face where I am worried it will crack while it dries. Not really a big deal if one or more pieces don’t work out. Kind of experimenting with it. It was all firewood until my brother in law told me he was looking for burls for knife scales and I got into a tree with black ants and started noodling the bigger rounds. And saw the weird grain patterns. Thanks for the reply!


You got nothing to loose , have fun with it and learn.


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## Stonesforbrains (Mar 24, 2019)

Moto, thanks for the thread, this was the most recent one I could find on the subject. Hope your applewood turns into an awesome looking project!


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## Sawyer Rob (Mar 24, 2019)

grizz55chev said:


> It’s my understanding that most of the drying happens on the end grain, think of a box of straws. Sealing the face will have little to no effect other than to waste the sealer and make things harder to work when you’re ready to finish the slabs. Slow drying helps to prevent cracking, checking and warping. Hardwoods, rule of thumb is 1 yr per inch of thickness, soft woods will dry much faster .


 Heavily figured wood does loose moisture through the grain, so it's a good idea to anchorseal those area's...

SR


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## grizz55chev (Mar 24, 2019)

I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m arguing, I’m just explaining why I’m right. All kidding aside, a lot of the curing process can vary from species as well as location, your mileage may vary, long and slow is one of the most important factors to getting good results.


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## Bmac (Mar 25, 2019)

Well you are both right. What Sawyer Rob is saying is that highly figured wood is a lot like end grain. With the figure the swirling grain results in some end grain on the sawn surface. This is why figured wood is hard to plane.
Do as SR says, put a light coat of anchor seal on the figured grain, I've had much better results with my crotch pieces once I started doing it.


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## Stonesforbrains (Mar 25, 2019)

Thanks for the input guys, I went ahead and put a coat on the ends and the face. I am going to leave them in my covered wood pile for a few weeks and then move them to a completely enclosed shed to dry for a couple years. Hopefully it works out.


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## Tenderfoot (Mar 31, 2019)

If and when you use that oak for knife handles, be prepared for a lot of filling. The open pores in oak and woods like walnut make it slow to finish compared to maple or cherry. But, still, that is some pretty wood! Ive made a steady extra few bucks milling burls over the last year. Cherry seems to sell the best, but none seem to have trouble moving!


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