End grain sealer

if it were mine, I'd get one of those paint mixer things that goes on a hand drill and mix it back up real well

Hmmm, that's a thought. I don't have one of those - wonder if my wife would mind if I used the Kitchen-Aid mixer? :-)

...Kevin

No, she will applaud your enterprising spirit.

At least my mom did when my dad used the spray painter on her vacuum cleaner to paint a one of those old kitchen cabinets that had the 25lb flour bin and the pull out procelain work areas - in the kitchen. From what I understand, the prints of her fingers and toes were still in the ceiling when they moved out of that apartment. :-)

if you insist on using kitchen tools, I'd recommend a blender, not a mixer. If you prefer domestic harmony, spending $3 on a paint mixer to go in your drill will be money well spent. If you don't have $3, find it in a thrift store for 25 cents

If it were me, I'd try some lacquer thinner, which will dissolve wax with no problem. Also, if you have an old iron, see if that melts the stuff, which sounds like wax. I've used regular paraffin wax with an old iron to melt the wax right into the end grain, and that works great.

End grain sealer is a water based solution, so I don't think the lacquer thinner would work too well. I'm going to give the paint stirrer method a go as soon as I can find an empty paint can. the sealer is in a plastic jug w/about a one inch opening at the top, so to get the wax & such out I'll probably have to destroy the container.

Thanks though..

If the product is Anchorseal by U. C. Coatings give them a call. They're located and Buffalo, NY. I picked up a 5 gallon pail at their plant a few years ago and they gave me the grand tour of their facilities. Great people.

Customer Service Representative, please call 1-888-END-COAT (363-2628) between the hours of 8:00am - 4:30pm EST.

...Kevin

They may make them all, but all are not the same. I bought a jug from Woodcraft and it was definitely different from that sold by Packard. More runny and drippy.

If it is water based then I'd try water to redissolve it? If all the liquid was gone, I'd still try Lacquer thinner. I wouldn't think wax would dissolve in water, more of an emulsion I guess. Once the water is gone, you have wax? The reason wax works as a grain sealer is moisture doesn't penetrate wax. That's why I like plain old (paraffin/ candle) wax melted into the end grain with an (old) iron.

I'm going to give the paint stirrer method

What did you end up doing and how did it work? Was the product an Anchorseal product?

There was still some liquid in it, so I did add some water to see if it would redissolve. Not really sure if it helped or not. Once it's dry on a log though, the rain doesn't bother it, so after some point it may be too far gone. It may redissolve when I stir it. Or at least create a suspension that I can paint on. We'll see.

Don't know if it was actually an Anchorseal product or not. Doesn't say on the bottle. I have another can of end grain sealer which I've been using so it's one of my back-burner projects at the moment. When I get low I'll have to track down a metal paint can. Or use the one my good end grain sealer is in when it's empty.

I'll post the results when I get to it...

...Kevin

Find yourself an old electric iron. Works really really well.

When I was young I used to snow ski, and I'd wax my skis with an old steam iron. One day I was using the lathe on some green firewood and making lamp blanks and wanted to seal them to stop the cracks sure to come when drying. Light went on and I had some old paraffin wax laying around and wow, did that work great for sealing end grain.

I have a lot of old firewood I turned into high quality hardwood billets with almost no cracking using this method.

Yeah, I've heard of folks doing that. But end grain sealer is less fiddly (at least for me - YMMV). Nothing to plug in - just slather on a coat and let 'er dry.

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I have a gallon of sealer that's fine. I'm just trying to salvage the half gallon or so of sealer in another jar that set up on me. If it works great. If not, no biggie.

Appreciate the suggestion though...

Take it to a paint store and ask them to shake your booty...