# What finish for interior Eastern Red Cedar?



## Ray Cover (Mar 19, 2010)

Here is my project. I am remodeling my garage into my man cave/ machine shop. I am using Eastern Red Cedar to trim and finish off my garage . I have used it to panel the windows where I boxed in one garage door. I will use it for all the trim and cabinets. 

The cedar is air dried. It was cut 12 years ago, lay in the field for two years before being taken to the saw mill. It has been drying sticked and stacked in my dad's barn for the last ten years. I am using the cedar for this project because I have well over 2500 BF of it and if I am going to get it used before I die I better get on it. :laughing:

What I need to know is what is the best method to finish the wood in this application? I don't care about the cedar smell. If it fades over time that's fine. This room is eventually going to smell like good pipe tobacco and machine oil (heaven). I would like something to help keep the deep red look... and that will not turn cloudy like a lot of finishes on cedar do.

Do any of you guys and gals have any suggestions?


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## jlhaslip (Jan 16, 2010)

equal parts Boiled linseed oil, polyurethane varnish and mineral spirits.
wipe on even coat(s). 2 should do it, but maybe 3.


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## Dave (PacNW) (Apr 19, 2009)

*Use Blond Shellac*

I would use 2 to 3 coats of Blond Shellac. The walls will not get much wear on them so heavy protection is not needed. Shellac will not discolor the Cedar. Any finish using oil will darken the Cedar. The other choice would be water based Poly. The third choice is to ship me about a 1000 BF and I will give you anything you want for a finish

Dave (PacNW)


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

Ray,

I've experimented with just about every product and concoction know to man, and the best thing I found to preserve the simile of natural color is Minwax Marine Spar Varnish. It comes in three different sheens. It _will_ darken the wood somewhat but will help retain the brightness longer than anything else I have found. This is only for interior applications where no direct sunlight can get to it. 

Every type of clearcoat that I have ever used which did not change the hue of the wood, failed to preserve the color for any length of time. I finally came to the opinion that nothing will stop the change completely, but some products will slow it down more than others. I am always on the lookout for something better so any one who has found something that has lasted more than a few years I will try it. 

Interestingly, the minwax spar did not hold up worth a hoot on the exterior applications I tested it on, so I now use the cheapo McCloskey's Redwood stain/sealer from Walmart in the 5 gallon bucket. It's cheap, looks good, and lasts longer than anything else I've tried on ERC. 

Nice man cave btw.


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## Ray Cover (Mar 19, 2010)

Thanks for the info guys. I was hoping there might be a product on the market that was made for eastern red cedar. Looks like I'm not going to be that lucky. 

Now i have some ideas to work with. 

Thanks,
Ray


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## JohnK007 (Nov 14, 2009)

Hey Ray, what's that contraption on the right? It almost looks like a mortiser but I know it's not.


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

John, looks like a spot welder to me. I have one but it is collecting dust in my dad's warehouse. I have needed it a few times and always pledge to "go get that thing this weekend!"

Could be a riviter or someting too though. My spot welder looks similar but a lot different.


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## Ray Cover (Mar 19, 2010)

Hey John,

That is a 5 ton kick press. Its basically a foot operated punch press.

I do more metal working than woodworking most of my wood machines are on mobile bases and are stowed against the left wall when not in use. My metal working machines will be permanently installed once the room is done. I will also have my reloading bench permanently set up in there.

This garage is basically going to be my machine shop that doubles as my man cave. I have all daughters and occasionally I just plain need to escape the estrogen in house and go smoke a pipe of nice aromatic tobacco. :yes: I love them with all my heart but sometimes I just have to get away and do guy stuff.

Ray


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## JohnK007 (Nov 14, 2009)

Ray Cover said:


> Hey John,
> 
> I have all daughters and occasionally I just plain need to escape the estrogen in house and go smoke a pipe of nice aromatic tobacco. :yes: I love them with all my heart but sometimes I just have to get away and do guy stuff.
> 
> Ray


Oh Lord can I relate to that !! I have my wife, daughter and granddaughter living at home, and I'm retired now so I definitely know what you mean! The garage and the basement office are my two hideouts. Smoking is only allowed in the garage which is OK with me.

Thanks for the explanation on the kick press. Would like to see the rest of your WW and MW toys. I never messed much with metal working machines other than my welders and plasma cutter. Would like to learn more about it but I have enough trouble measuring my wood projects to 1/16" tolerances. I know you machinists deal in 1/1000" tolerances!


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## Ray Cover (Mar 19, 2010)

When I get it all done I'll put up a photo shop tour. :gunsmilie:


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## JW_in_Indy (Mar 20, 2009)

Ray Cover said:


> I have all daughters and occasionally I just plain need to escape the estrogen in house and go smoke a pipe of nice aromatic tobacco. :yes: I love them with all my heart but sometimes I just have to get away and do guy stuff.
> 
> Ray


Oh dear Jesus can I relate. I have two teenage daughters and a wife entering menopause in my home at the moment. :laughing:


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## Glassnwood (Jan 29, 2012)

*It gets better*

When it comes to girls, I raised 2, & I know what you mean by Menopausel, I live in flordia and be it winter or summer I have to outside to warm up !!!
On the plus side Daughter and new son-in-law need all kinds of wood working done on the new digs :yes:. I can't waite to get started on a grand kids new room.


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

Here's some pics of my ERC walls. I wanted to keep the purplecolor, bu with poly this is how they turned out. If the blo works post pics, I might have to think on redoing mine.The poly always darkens the cedar. I love the finished look, but that purple in the raw wood just blows me away.

Sent from my iPhone using Wood Forum


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## chemmy (Dec 13, 2011)

""Here's some pics of my ERC walls. I wanted to keep the purple-color""

The only way to keep the purple color for any reasonable length of time is to use a dilute solution of lignin stabilizer [HALS] on the bare wood before applying any clear coats - the clear should be an acrylic that also will not add or detract form the raw wood appearance since it will not yellow or amber with time. It, the coating, should also contain both HALS ad UVA's so as to keep film degradation from happening any sooner than possible. A 1-2-3- punch so to say. Then you can enjoy the look for a reasonably long period of time. :yes:


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## mimi1g (Jul 13, 2012)

whats the best way to clean an eastern red cedar swing for refinishing it has black patches on it and cant seem to find anything to remove them without striping and sanding it board by board any help would be appreciated thank you


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Without knowing what the black patches are it would be hard to say what to use. Try mineral spirits or soap and water. It will either clean it or do nothing. It may come down to sanding it off. Any stronger solvent could lift the finish and then you would need paint stripper.


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## HuskerFan (Jul 2, 2017)

Hi Chemmy,

I'm piggy-backing off an earlier question about how to keep the purple hue of ERC. I have 4 live-sawed boards that I plan to use as shelves in my living room. I wasn't planning to finish them per se, but I would like to find a way to keep the purple color. Can you tell me more about lignin stabilizer (HALS) and how you dilute it?

Thanks,
A


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Chemmy hasn't been here in years. I talked to him today via email and he still doesn't wish to come back. He's disgusted with the direction the finishing industry is going. 

The purple color is going to turn brown even if you put nothing on it. It will react to sunlight. In order to keep it purple for as long as possible I would recommend a water based polyurethane. At least it won't yellow or add any other color to it.


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