# What to do with this slice... Seal it first?



## ecologito

Hi,

Today I was driving towards work and they were slicing down what I think it was a scotch pine. I asked for a slice for educational purpooses and the tree removing company guys were pretty cool about it. Now I want to figure out how to keep this slice from Cracking. What kind of treatment and procedure should I follow?

Situations like this make wish I had the money and room to be an urban logger. The log they were working on was at least 18 ft long. It's so sad to see a big tree turned into wood chips.


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## Daren

I wish I could be more help. I don't mess with many cross section cookies, nor do I mill much pine mostly hardwoods here.

I am going to go out on a limb here (and if someone knows different feel free to correct me) and say that is not going to crack very much as it dries. I think you will be ok just leaving it as is for several month, then try to seal it. I can't think of a product that will want to stick to it well enough to try to seal it wet.


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## ecologito

Thanks Daren, Will it make a difference if I leave it inside with A/C or throw it in the attic where it gets pretty toasty. I'm sorry if my questions sound too silly or simple. I would really like to save this tree coookie ( since my birthday was yesterday)


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## Daren

I think the hot attic may crack it fresh sawn like it is. People for centuries have used the attic as a kiln, works great. But in this case I would let it slowly air dry for a little while first. Keep it inside for a couple weeks and see what it does. It is going to start cracking by then if it is going to. If it looks like it is holding together then the attic is a good option, just a few weeks up there and it will be "kiln dried". Cross sections are just tricky business, some more than others. Some will bust regardless, but since this is a softwood it may not. I have sliced cedar cookies before that stayed together.


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## ecologito

I was looking at this cookie a little closer and I found this odd looking inlay. Does anybody could take a good guess on how did that happen?


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## Daren

That was a branch that was trimmed/broken off and the tree kept growing and over grew it. I see many of those especially in softwood (pine/cedar) and yard trees in general. People prune the lower branches on their ornamentals. If the circle was a log and it was milled into lumber that old branch would just be a knot.


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## dirtclod

Daren is right - slow the drying as much as possible without promoting mold. And keep it out of sunlight. Could still crack though.

The reason they crack is that wood shrinks along the growth rings. The growth rings are a lot longer on the outside. Duh! Since there's a lot more growth ring on the outside circumference it shrinks more than the shorter growth rings in the center. And that's the way the cookie crumbles. 

Up for an experiment? Try sealing the end grain from the outside to about 1/4 of the way in - leaving the heartwood unsealed.


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## Terry Beeson

I'll add a couple of cents worth... and with the economy, we all know how much that's actually worth... 

However, while what has been said already may be just fine, I would try to find someone from the Forestry Service or other conservation type folks and get their take on what to do. I know there are cookies like that on display at different places like nature centers, forestry displays, etc., or maybe even a paper company. These guys have done exactly what you're wanting to do, so maybe they could help.


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## ecologito

Only 24 hours after the tree was down and cut I looked at the tree cookie today and is already cracking:thumbdown:. I left it overnight inside a large closet (office's HVAC room) it is cool, dark and it has 2 drains for the AC units so I thought moisture would slow down the drying process:blink:.

I guess this is not going to work. I will have to look for a hardwood tree and get a better one. This one is pretty good seize so I will use it if I can. Thanks a lot for your help guys


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## TexasTimbers

I just saw this thread. Gonna sound like I am stating the obvious now but even before I got to your last post here with it cracking I was already screaming "Cookies crack like crazy!! Seal it now!!!" 

You got to seal them immediately on both sides with a good wax sealer. No paint. Paint is too thin for cookies. Think about it, logs check because theyare releasing the moisture content drastically faster from their ends because end grain is super porous. They crack deeper and deeper into the log over time but finally the cracks stop at a certain point because the log itself acts as a sealer. 

With a cookie you have a sponge basically. Sponges soak stuff up quickly but they dry out at a fantastic rate as well. You got to seal it. That cookie is still salvageable from the looks of it. The cracks aren't all the way through and are concentrated in the center. You might could still turn a bowl from it if you coat it now. Of course, it's been about 4 days since you posted that pic so it may be wrecked by now already. Cookies don't give much + wiggle room.


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## ecologito

TexasTimbers said:


> I just saw this thread. Gonna sound like I am stating the obvious now but even before I got to your last post here with it cracking I was already screaming "Cookies crack like crazy!! Seal it now!!!"
> 
> You got to seal them immediately on both sides with a good wax sealer.


What kind of product would be a good seal ( any recomended brand or type of products?).

I have the cookie now laying against the water drain so the air is pretty humid right now and the crack is growing very slowly, I could try to save it. I think kids would really like enjoy having a large cookie to look at tree growth.


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## TexasTimbers

Google "log end sealer" and you'll have plenty of dealers from whom to buy. Anchor Seal is the most popular, the most expensive, and probably the best, but I buy a product from ACI by the skid. Get it dirt cheap compared to Anchor Seal and it serves my needs. I do keep a 5 gallon bucket of Anchor Seal on hand as well.

Any wax-based product you buy that is formulated as an actual log end sealer will be fine for that cookie. You could actually coat it with enough layers of latex and then wrap it up in several layers of heavy construction paper and avoid the sealer, but i just figure thats alot more trouble than ordering a gallon of wax sealer and being done with it. Plus you won't want to have to deal with removing the paint when it comes time to remove it, unless you are turning the thing on a lathe, and it sounds like you are not.


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## Daren

ecologito said:


> I asked for a slice for educational purpooses


TT I was assuming he wanted to be able to see the growth rings. I use Anchorseal myself but it is opaque and would defeat the purpose. I was just going to suggest a clear poly in my first response...but did not know how it would react with the sap and water in the pine and was afraid that was going to make a worse mess down the road.


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## frankp

Interesting that I took a couple of "cookies" from the maple in my yard a couple months ago so I could make some clocks out of them. They dried in a matter of days but there are no cracks that I know of in them at all. At least one of them has a hole in the center where the wood was soft, so maybe that helped prevent the cracking, or is it just the density of the wood?


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## TexasTimbers

Yeah thats unusual. How thick were they? Wood doesn't dry in a matter of days on its own unless they were paper thin. But it can seem that way on the outside.

Were they in a high moisture environment?


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## frankp

TT, they were about an inch thick for the ones that dried really fast. The 2 inch thick ones took a little longer and are still outside in the garage so aren't truly dry yet.


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## ecologito

Today I stop by Rockler and the guy told me that He didn't have Wax sealer but he told me that the wax used for finishing would work as well. I guess at least I could use that for my work bench/table and finish it.


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## Tree Bones

It may be to late for this one but a common method for stabilizing wood like this is PEG 1000, here is a link to some good information http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/pdf1972/mitch72a.pdf


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## Burlkraft

Cookies are hard to dry...as you already know. :yes:

I am experimenting with some right now. Pentacryl seems to be working. I have some thin sliced red pine ones I'm doing and they seem to be stable...for now 

The best chance of saving the bark is to cut the tree and the cookie when the tree is dormant. I'll try that this winter.


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