Another Plank Question

[wvmtnman]

The logs were cut on Monday and will be sawn into planks tomorow.  I did not paint the ends of the logs.  Will the planks be checked a little?  (The weather here was 75 & sunny on Monday and tuesday and about 50 today) If so, should I cut out the checked portion and then paint or leave the checked ends and paint? 
Sorry to be a pain in the rear about this but I would hate to mess up these planks. 
                                                        Brian

[northmn]

You can see the checks, If the logs are still bleeding sap they may not have checked.  Get paint or glue mixed with water on them right away as the planks dry on the ends faster than a log with bark on.  Personally I would lean toward cutting off the checking as it could be a catylyst to continue splitting.  Some drill a hole in the end of a crack on a stock to stop it.  I wish I had your problems with temperature as it is below zero right now.

DP

[Acer Saccharum]

Paint the ends with water based paint, or titebond thinned a bit as soon as the logs will take a coating. By that I mean, if water is running out of the wood, it's kinda pointless to paint over the wet. Wait until it is dry enough to put a coating on.

[Jim Filipski]

Acer What are you still doing home! Thought you were off on adventure!

[Eric Krewson]

I would cut the checked portions off the planks as they will only check deeper. I have cut a lot of logs for bow making. Shellac is the best sealer you can put on the ends of a log, 3 or 4 thick coats . I lost some might fine wood to checking when I depended on wood glue as a sealer. If the weather is particularly dry when I cut wood I coat the entire stave with a light coat of shellac to prevent surface checking.

[Tony Clark]

The logs were cut on Monday and will be sawn into planks tomorow.  I did not paint the ends of the logs.  Will the planks be checked a little?  (The weather here was 75 & sunny on Monday and tuesday and about 50 today) If so, should I cut out the checked portion and then paint or leave the checked ends and paint? 

                                                       Brian

Hi Brian, I doubt they will have dried out to any great extent in this short of time but if you can see some checking on the end of the log I would just go ahead and make a fresh cut to clean it up. I'm don't know how you have decided to saw these logs up, or if your intent is on making lumber or some gunstocks or both, but if you thinking of flitch sawing it like acer described, where you just put the log on the mill and don't turn it or make a cant out of it but simply just saw it and leave the bark on, I would recommend keeping the flitches in order when you stack it just like it was in log from. That way if you need some matched lumber at a later date it is easy to find. Also, another thing comes to mind if it is a Cherry log that you have, if you want some figure in the best boards or a gunstock  I would recommend making sure that the best part of the log ends up being slab sawn as quarter sawn cherry is fairly plain and isn't much to look at. For sealing the ends I would recommend the cheapest water based urethane that you can find, the stuff that would be used on a hardwood floor. If you paint the ends you then are not able to see the end grain, being able to see the grain orientation can be very helpful. One other thing, when you pile it for drying place the outside sticker as close to the end of the board as possible rather than leave the end of the board hanging. I have found that this also seems to prevent checking. Regards, TC

[robert gene]

Also, when you stack them, make sure you have plenty of wieght on them to help stop cupping and warp.

[wvmtnman]

Thanks for the replies guys.  I do plan on cutting some up for boards but the majority will be gunstocks.  Would it be OK to put the planks in doors?  I have an area to put it in that would be climate controled.  Or, would it be best to stick these in my garage?
Also, I have now heard oil based paint and water based paint.  What are the experiences of each?
                                                              Thanks,  Brian

[TENdriver]

Brian,
I wouldn't get too attached to any one piece of that wood as you're probably going to lose some.   I like to turn wet billets on the lathe and you just accept that green wood won't cooperate and sometimes my best work turns into fancy kindling.

Like Acer, I use latex paint that I get from the clearance section.  Pay $2.00 a gallon and slather it on.  I follow up from time to time and hit the end grain with more paint if required.

 Worst case you end up with some nice pistol stocks versus long New England fowlers.

Kevin H