I have used this for 15  years (BLACK JACK 4.75-Gallon Blacktop Driveway Sealer), it is as good or better than any other coating, it is rubber based and cheap $15.00 for 5 gallons. You can get it at Lowes. it was recommended to me by a long time sawer, has not let me down yet, also use it to coat timbers before putting them in the ground, they last 10 times longer. It does not harm the blade or cause any problems while cutting once it is dry, dries extremely fast.

I think i will have to try that to, thanks citrafarm.

I have used watered down white wood glue on the ends on big slabs and works perfectly BUT this is air drying in the garage with a fan and also glue will dull a blade so i would not recommend coating logs with it. i just milled big slabs then sealed the ends to prevent checking 

Be sure to stir it up good as it settles out, you will be very pleased with the results and cost, I have left logs for a couple of years with the ends coated with the driveway sealer and suffered no significant loss, plus as I said before it dries very quickly, it is black so it is easily marked with white or yellow wax pencil.

Me, too.  I've been using Anchorseal up to now... expensive, but better than letting the logs crack,  Thanks for th info!

All good ideas.

Local sawyer recommended painting the uncut logs, and using a unique colour per species.  That way, theres never any "I think this is...".  As for a perfect seal, he felt that a paint that allowed a bit of moisture movement was okay, as long as it was about as slow as movement sideways through the boards.  He thought a perfect seal wasn't necessary, you do want the wood to dry, just slower than it would naturally.  He didn't want anything tarry, gummy, or too hard, due to the effects on bandsaw blades.

Waxing was a non-starter for painting logs.  Just too painful to keep warm enough to properly adhere when painting thirty or forty log ends.

However, finding reasonable paint at reasonable cost is a challenge. This spring, we found &15/gallon recycled paint in several colours at walmart, and painted the logs about two weeks after cutting.  The logs are showing no signs of checking.  We're just about done our softwood and custom requests, so we'll see how the hardwood turns out next month.

Blair

I looked for additional info on this, this article recommends a driveway asphalt type sealer, I have never had any problems with it gumming up the blade once it dried and I use a wax marker to write what it is, when it was cut and anything else I need. $15.00 for 5 gallons is cheap, one bucket last me a couple of years.

              Processing Trees to Lumber for the Hobbyist and Small Business

by Eugene M. Wengert and Dan A. Meye

End-coat all logs as soon as possible after the tree is felled to prevent rapid drying of log ends. Rapid drying can cause end ecks and cracks. Satisfactory end coatings include water-based wax, asphalt-based roofing cement, aluminum paint in a spar-varnish base, and paraffin.

Clear finishes are intended to make wood look good and meet the demands to be placed on the finish. You can read more about the exclusive decorative wood grain powder coating system for metal, glass, etc.

Hey guys

I have been looking for driveway sealer and i found Black Jacks like citrafarm mentioned. There is 4 different kinds and all of them are full of sand for grit... I am in ontario and wondering if you guys have a different selection in the states?? also it is around $50.00 a pail here. I cant fined anchorseal either (other then online) and feel shipping would add up on a few gallons!!

I guess my question is there sand in all the black jacks rubber based sealer?? I would rather paint the logs before cutting then every board after!

thanks

jeff

Thank you for the input Eddiemac!! Even at 40 or 50.00$ for a 5 gallon pail it is still a lot cheaper then anchorseal.

Instead of driveway sealer if you wish to coat your logs wouldn't  water base foundation coating work as well it has no sand and less money.

I conquer Bill would work well.

I tried rubber-based driveway crack filler in 1 gallon jug.  It has no grit in it and is about as thick as chocolate pudding. The only drawback is it water based and you  need to apply it in above freezing temps. My oak logs cracked while I waited for it warm up enough to apply it. It filled all cracks and checks and a month later no new ones have formed. It's easy to apply  with a brush, just scoop up a big dollop and scrub it on. It separates in storage so be sure to shake , shake, shake...

I bought a 5gal bucket of Armor Seal driveway coating at Canadian Tire for $15, but haven't opened it, so I dont know if it has sand.  For the winter I bought 1l of Lee Valley Log End Sealer @ $16.50.  I used it on a few logs in freezing temperatures and it's doing a good job. Now that it's warmer I'm going to do the rest of my logs with the driveway sealer. 

I used the same pail of armour seal and it seems fine.

I didn't have good luck with the Black Jack sealer.  I used it to seal my wood last week and it is already cracking.  Should I use more than one coat?  Any advice would be apprieciated.

Judging by your screen name, I'd say if you are a wood turner, use only the best  -  anchorseal or something comparable.  On the other hand, more coats are better.  When I applied asphalt sealer to a bunch of black oak logs, I made sure it had as thick of a coat as possible from one application; and to accomplish that I got my thickest stuff from the bottom of the bucket.  The top stuff seemed more like coloring than coating.  Stirring did not seem to mix it thoroughly   -   or at least I didn't want to try that hard..

In post # 14 above, I said: "I can confirm that it [driveway sealer] does work as a sealer."  I can now confirm, as some people may suspect, that I sometimes don't know what I am talking about.  I had thought it worked o.k. on some black oak, but I recently used Blackjack driveway sealer to seal the end of this post oak log.  While it may not have received a very thick coating, it is obvious the application did not work.  If you want good protection, use Anchorseal.

I used blackjack with the same poor results.

Post oak is bad about cracking anyway, but those cracks don't look too deep.  I've never considered post oak for anything other than blocking, but I'll try some Anchorseal on some and see what happens.