Eastern Red Cedar Finish

Re: Eastern Red Cedar Finish

I like the look that Mahoney's walnut oil gives.

Re: Eastern Red Cedar Finish

I'm not speaking from experience, but I have read that it's best to avoid surface finishes like poly because they don't interact well with the cedar oils. YMMV

Re: Eastern Red Cedar Finish

I've used one or two coats of shellac (sprayed onto a cloth) as a sealer coat(s).  You can then put any finish on top if you desire.  In either case, I would top off with a coat of wax.

Re: Eastern Red Cedar Finish

When this question is asked I usually post pictures of ERC turnings with various finishes but I’m not at the computer and don’t have access to the photos with this iPad, sorry.

I’ve turned a lot of Eastern Red Cedar and used a variety of finishes, some for different uses, each gives a different look.  Some are:

- Pure beeswax (from my hives), applied while spinning or rubbed on the wood with the lathe off, then rubbed with a cloth.

- Pure beeswax rubbed heavily on the wood then melted into the wood with a gentle heat gun, perhaps while adding more wax.  Much different look.  

- “Danish” oil, the usual way: 6 or more applications, the 1st soaking in as much oil as it will take, dried at least overnight after each application, sometimes wet sanded with oil and 600 or finer sandpaper. 

- Clear satin acrylic spray from a rattlecan.

- Clear Deft lacquer from a rattle can, multiple very thin coats (6 or more) of satin (never glossy), 0000 liberian steel wool between some coats. 

- Nothing but Renaissance Wax, rubbed on with a cloth on finely sanded surface (maybe 800+ grit)   

I recommend testing various finishes yourself on sections of a turned and sanded cylinder of the same wood you are using.  (Cedar from different areas and trees can look different.)  

JKJ

Re: Eastern Red Cedar Finish

Cedar is a very soft wood so I would shy away from a hard film finish that may crack and peel over time. I would recommend red-can Waterlox applied by brush until the wood won't take any more.  Allow the piece to sit for several days and wipe off any weeps that can happen on spots of different density.  When dry, wet sand with 600 grit SiC paper and more 'Lox, allow to sit for about 20 mins, then wipe dry with paper towels to remove the slurry.  When cured for a day, rub down with 4-0 wool, vac off, and apply a coat of wax, either Johnson's or Renaissance, and hand buff.

PS

The reason for the preference for Waterlox is its tung oil base which, unlike Danish oil's linseed, doesn't darken over time

PPS

For some reason the ERC pieces i’ve finished with “danish” oil have not darkened over time, at least according to photos taken years ago. Darker at first and appears to stay that way. Perhaps not BLO products react the same on all ERC.  

That said, I do prefer the look and feel of beeswax as a finish if appropriate for  the intended use 

Re: Eastern Red Cedar Finish

Clear water borne gloss poly rubbed out to desired sheen

Re: Eastern Red Cedar Finish

Clear thinned brushing lacquer flooded on, let soak for a while and then wipe off the excess. 

gorgeous platter, Mike

I have some ERC that's been laughing at me for years.  I've got to find out what's inside.  

A few ERC pieces with various finishes

I finally got to sit down for a few minutes!   Here are some things made from ERC with various finishes, the best I can remember on some.

Lidded vessel with multiple coats of Deft spray can lacquer.

This was my first "real" bowl after a practice one, close to 20 years ago.  Beeswax finish.  

This piece is where I first devised a way to use hand scrapers for smoothing instead of coarse sanding.

Bowl from about 2006-7, cedar from a neighbor's tree.

Beeswax, applied by rubbing on the turning piece, used a heat gun to melt the wax so it soaked into the fibers.

A little glass jar from Ikea, the lid fell and broke so this ERC lid is a replacement.  Beeswax, melted.

(I reused the silicone ring seal from the glass lid.)  We keep salt in it by the range.

One of my "small squarish dished platters", finish is multiple coats of "danish" oil, some wet sanding between coats.

This piece illustrates the value of hand scrapers for smoothing.  The only sandpaper used was 600 grit.

At the top is my very first "small squarish dished platter" where I developed the design. 

Beeswax from my hives, hand rubbed into the surface then rubbed with a cloth. 

We use this often for candy, fruit, nuts, candles, etc. 

The large center wand in this old group is cedar, all have Mylands shellac-based friction polish, applied while spinning.

Cedar and ebony wands.  The cedar one has "danish" oil finish, distressed texturing.

(BTW, I learned to NOT give ebony a glossy finish - makes it look just like plastic!)

I look for cedar with interesting figure with both the red and white colors.  Some of the things shown above were from the same tree as this slice off the end of a blank.

JKJ

great primer, John

Re: Eastern Red Cedar Finish

Wow !!  Mant thanks for all of the great responses.

I ended up with one coat of wipe-on poly and several coats of rattle-can gloss lacquer.

The white rings are pieces of pipe fitings so the lid screws on. 9" tall x 5" diameter max.

Re: Eastern Red Cedar Finish

Dark, but great color and figure.

BTW, you can get grey and black threaded pvc fittings too, if that might go well with a particular wood/color/style .

(and brass too, which can look nice, but much more expensive in large sizes and more work to cut and turn to size.  However, it is possible to turn brass on the wood lathe with woodturning tools, I just demoed this.)