Features:

  • Prevents up to 90% or more of end checking (drying splits)
  • Green wood sealer for turning blanks, cookies, wood bowls and carvings.
  • Ipe decking end sealer - widely used to protect cut ends of wood decks & steps
  • Water-based , eco-friendly log & lumber end grain sealer
  • End grain sealer of choice among log and lumber industry professionals since 1980
Are You Enlightened And Know What A Bowl Blank Is? Then Do Yourself A Favor And Buy A Gallon Of Anchorseal 2!!

I'm going to hazard a guess that 90% of all bowl turners use Anchor Seal 2. I have had less than 2% of my green bowl blanks and/or rough turned bowls crack when I use this product. Some apply just to the end grain portions, but I just coat the entire blank or bowl. This applies so easily and quickly that it's a no-brainer to use every time. It eliminates cracks and checking by slowing the moisture loss from wood. The good news is that wood still dries - it just takes longer and keeps the wood stable. The photos are freshly sealed bowl blanks and a sealed rough turned bowl Pro: • It works to prevent cracks 98% of the time • It's inexpensive - a little goes a LONG way • Easy to apply and requires little to no clean-up • Dries clear, allowing you to identify wood species Con: • It is one additional processing step (yeah, I know I'm stretching here) Tips: • Dedicate a paint brush (doesn't matter what kind - I use synthetic) so it's always near the can and handy. • Store brush "wet" in a sealed ziplok or wash quickly in warm water. • Use a mat (rubber, synthetic, plastic) to catch drips and smears when applying and don't bother to clean after use. • Apply liberally to coat thoroughly (a gallon covers hundreds of bowls or blanks). • If you mark your blanks or bowls with wood species and/or a date - do this before you apply Anchorseal 2. Brilliant chemists could tell you the exact composition of this product, but between you and me, think of this as liquid wax. When applied, it looks like milky white paint, but within 12-24 hours, it dries pretty much transparent and feels waxy. I generally dedicate a paint brush to this task and you can wash it out in warm water after each use or you can slide it "wet" into a ziplok, seal and it stores just fine for months. I also have a rolled up piece of rubber mat that I throw on my workbench when I "paint" blanks or bowls. When I spill product or rest a "painted" side on the rubber, I just leave the Anchorseal on the mat and don't bother to wipe or rinse off between uses. So clean-up is non-existent. I have to admit I'm a zealot for this product...now if someone would just create a self-sharpening bowl gouge.

My Sawyer Swears by It. Goes on Easy. Cleanup a Snap.

Got some logs from a friend and after researching end grain sealing methods, chose Anchorseal. Since was my first rodeo, I was pleased to learn that my sawyer had been using Anchorseal for years and loved it. I don't know if it is easy to stir up, but I took no chances and went to my local Home Depot and asked them to shake the can since my first use would be in the field in 2 days. Pros: 1. Goes on very easily with a cheap bristle brush. 2. Clean up is a snap. The wax emulsion quickly rinses out of the brush. I used a Sharpie to label it solely for use with Anchorseal. 3. Once mixed, it stays mixed for days. 4. Comes in a plastic can and lid. Wish latex primer and paint came in plastic cans and lids--no corrosion. 5. While I cannot personally attest to how well applying Anchorseal to freshly cut end grain prevents checking (splitting) by reducing the drying rate, as I mentioned above, my sawyer swears by it and red oak boards I bought from him earlier this year that had been air-drying for over a year, showed no checking. 6. Best: Anchorseal allows you to quickly and easily apply the best seal--wax--to the end of the freshly cut lumber. It blocks water and oxygen. Old-time canners relied on wax to seal their jars. Cons: 1. While it will take some time before I can personally attest to Anchorseal's effectiveness in preventing checking in our 8/4 walnut boards, the only negative I can think of is that it goes on and spreads so easily that I may not have applied a thick enough layer.

Works great for me on Redwood

It's beautifully thick, easy to apply, and does its job when applied correctly, twice. Don't expect 100% perfection, but you can certainly expect a whole lot. From my experience, newly cut end grain absorbs enough to warrant applying twice, while painting down the four sides about a 1/4-inch past the cut I do only once. I have a feeling a lot of people don't bother with that last part, but a lot can happen at the interface between the end of a board and it's sides. A ragged 90º corner calls out for treatment. When you make a rough cut, often the waste is allowed to fall away, occasionally breaking off a bit of the end. That's what's easy to miss when sealing the ends. I try to make sure to inspect each board and paint appropriately. I use a regular cheap brush and just wash it in soap and water right after. Would latex paint be as good as this? Probably, but I like how this is specific for it's job. Because the 4 sides you might paint a tiny bit are not end grain they won't absorb the sealer very much. Use very sparingly on the sides. Just a little 1/8" thick is plenty. It will dry to an 1/8" paste. Because it can stain, be careful putting that board down on other wood. Latex paint would have the advantage here. When I applied this to green Redwood, it did a fantastic job at stopping numerous radial checks I found appearing in the untreated cuts.

Excellent sealer

I really like this sealer. I used it the other day to seal the end of a bunch of fresh cut logs. I opened the can was pleasantly surprised that the product hadn't separated. You know, like paint does, I put a stir stick in and stirred it around and it was a consistent quality from top to bottom of the can. It was thick like wood glue and very easy to apply. I used a thick brush and quickly covered the ends of the logs. It slowly soaked in, but left enough on the surface that you could see which logs had been treated earlier in the day. I did put on second coat like recommended. It didn't take much product to do a second coat. It went on very easy. It is an excellent product!

Can’t be beat

Anchor seal is the ONLY way to be sure your wood is sealed. Don’t mess around when drying. Just buy it. Pro tip, if you run out just buy the 5 galllon bucket off the Anchorseal website. You’ll end up with 2 gallons free.

This purchase is my second gallon of Anchorseal 2

I started learning to seal and age wood the old fashioned way 15 years ago. I tried another brand, two or three gallons of it, and my fellow turners in our club told me to change to Anchorseal. I did and I am pleased with the difference. Cost difference is close but the end result is much better with Anchorseal. Being an arborist and almost full time wood turner I can speak with authenticity and plenty of experience.

and the ends have stayed a beautiful rich color

I heard about Anchor seal on the internet. Used the product for sealing the ends of black walnut logs to try and avoid dry cracking. So far no cracking, and the ends have stayed a beautiful rich color. I would recommend this product.

What A Difference

What a difference this makes on end cracking...I carefully split some walnut logs into cutting board size chunks and after doing a ton of research, picked up Anchorseal 2 to coat the ends as soon as I trimmed them. These have to dry for about a year, they were pretty wet, so it seemed like a prudent move for some typically pricey wood. I skipped applying the anchorseal to one batch after I trimmed it, came back a week later and there was considerable cracking. The ones that I had applied it to within a couple of hours had minimal to none. Proof is in the pudding. This stuff works. Very easy to apply, easy to cleanup if you drip any, I'm a total believer in it.

End rain sealer

One of the best end grain sealers on the market. Works extremely well with green and dry wood cut ends. Paramount for doing decks and house exterior trim. Strongly recommended for these two applications as the water absorption in the exterior cut ends of these applications is damaging to the wood and causes early rot failures. Just be careful to not get Anchorseal on the outside surfaces as it will keep the applications of stain and paint from adhering to the surfaces.

Kept wood from splitting

I had some trees taken down and had some wood slices cut. Coated both sides of most of the slices and left them to dry. The slices with the coating did not crack. All of the ones that were not coated cracked! Great product!!

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