# Aromatic Red Cedar - What to Finish it With?



## dodgeboy77 (Mar 18, 2009)

Hi All,

I am building a tray for a blanket chest that I built last year. The tray will have a bottom of aromatic red cedar, just as the bottom of the chest has. Since the tray isn't that large (the bottom is about 12"x17") I'm using tongue in groove cedar that fits into a dado around the lower edge.

Anyway, I would like the aromatic cedar to continue to be aromatic. What finish can I put on it so it can keep its odoriferous qualities (yes, I looked that word up :laughing: ) from being sealed into the wood. Or should I use no finish at all?

Bill


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## hawglet (Feb 15, 2010)

I'm not sure but I've heard that Aromatic cedar will seal itself after a few years and thus you have to scuff it with a fine grit or sos pad to keep it's smelly quality. I would leave it without finish, although I'm not sure if there may be a finish that would work out for you. Sorry not much help.


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## drcollins804 (Jan 11, 2008)

Well. Most of the cedar chests that I have seen have no finish on the inside and I have seen a few with a small cedar tray that rests on the top edge of the base. Never have seen one that had any finish on it. Have finished cedar before but it always lost its aroma when finished. Biggest down side is if finished it stays much brighter and tends to have the red fade out when unfinished but retains its aroma.
Hope this helps. I wouldn't finish anything cedar that is on the inside of a cedar chest.
David


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## dodgeboy77 (Mar 18, 2009)

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm going to give it a nice sanding and leave it alone. I love it when the solution to a problem requires the least amount of work!

Bill


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## dodgeboy77 (Mar 18, 2009)

Okay, here's my final solution to this situation: After I got done finish sanding the cedar I decided that its color looked too pale. I used some wipe-on Bartley satin varnish, but only on the top side. That brought out the depth of the cedar's color for good aesthetics, yet the bottom side can stay stinky!

Bill


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## drcollins804 (Jan 11, 2008)

Sounds like a good compromise. I have a chest that they finished the outside and went down the sides on the inside about two inches with the finish but left the rest of the inside unfinished. very strong aroma when opened. 
Think you found the best idea for your application.
David


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## agerb (Jan 4, 2011)

*Sappy mess*

I've been enjoying your thread on the cedar, and I seem to have another problem with it being raw. Maybe two years ago, I bought a couple of hand-made cedar jewelry boxes, finished only on the front to make them look NICE! Anyway, just lately, the interior of both boxes has started to ooze sap, and everything in the boxes is a sticky mess - Naptha to the rescue, again...

So, is there any way of dealing with the sap problem, yet leaving the interiors with their wonderful aromatic qualities?

Thanks to all, from the "new, old guy"....


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## Chuck M (Dec 21, 2010)

Slightly of topic. We have a old cedar chest that has a strong moth ball odor, would sanding the inside help bring back the cedar smell and reduse the moth ball smell?


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

Aromatic cedar if used for its odor should not be sealed. The aroma is also an insect repellant. A better method than sanding would be just a scuff up with a ScotchBrite pad, bronze wool, or a synthetic wool, not steel wool.












 









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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

agerb said:


> . . . just lately, the interior of both boxes has started to ooze sap . . . is there any way of dealing with the sap problem, yet leaving the interiors with their wonderful aromatic qualities? . . .


The resin in ERC reacts the same way as sap in a pine. To stop "set the pitch" in Pine (prevent it from becoming a fluid and running out of the wood) the temperature in the kiln must reach a temperature higher than the wood will likely ever see. Since pine needs to be brought to a core temperature of at least 135ºF for several hours in order to kill all the coodies in the wood, most pine is automatically "conditioned" if you will for the sap to stay in a solid state. 

Your wood at sometime recently saw the highest temperature it had seen so the resin became a semi-liquid and . . . . . oozed. 

You might want to consider making a quick and easy solar or light bulb-powered heat box. All you'd have to do is get a couple sheets of reflective insulation and construct a makeshift but well-sealed box around it and throw a heat lamp (flood lights work great ) in it with a thermometer stuck through. Don't put the lamp too close to the wood it'll burn it. Build about an 18" buffer between the box and sides and top. Let the wood heat up to 130 to 140º and stay there for an hour. 

Be prepared to sand it all down again and also be prepared in the event the joinery was not executed/selected well and you have to do some repair work. 

In order to regain the smell you can either sand it, or add cedar oil to it. Go to texascedaroil.com (no affiliation) to get 100% oil. 







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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

cabinetman said:


> . . The aroma is also an insect repellant. . .


Not really. The bugs aren't thwarted off by the aroma or else you wouldn't see ERC bark and sap wood become so infested with bark beetles and such. They just don't like, or are unable to ingest the resin in the heartwood. 

This is also why you won't see much if any sapwood in premium ERC closet kits. The sap is susceptible re-infestation should it be exposed to the right conditions for a prolonged period of time wheres the heartwood isn't. 







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## del schisler (Nov 5, 2009)

Chuck M said:


> Slightly of topic. We have a old cedar chest that has a strong moth ball odor, would sanding the inside help bring back the cedar smell and reduse the moth ball smell?


Sanding will bring back the cedar smell. If not all that much get some cedar oil. put that in the chest that should do it ok.


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## agerb (Jan 4, 2011)

TexasTimbers said:


> Let the wood heat up to 130 to 140º and stay there for an hour.
> 
> .


TT, 
Thanks for the in-depth reply, and sorry it's taken me so long to respond.

So, basically, we're trying to warm the wood way past "normal room temperature". Would it be stupid of me to ask, "Why not put the wood in the kitchen oven on the lowest possible setting for the same length of time?" 

Thanks again for your enlightening response.
Bob


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

I don't see why you couldn't heat it in the oven. I would make sure you don't get the temp too much over 160º - 180º tops but that's extreme. Firewood kilns use 160º as a minimum kiln temp but we aren't making firewood (hopefully!). 

Just don't ever put wet (freshly milled) ERC in an oven like that - I think it would dry too fast and cause severe checking. That's just a guess because I've never done it but I think it would. Maybe someone has dried wood in an oven before and can give us some firsthand info. Maybe make a post in the milling section I bet Daren has done it and probably a couple others. 

You might also make a post about it in the turning section. I can almost guarantee someone there has dried wood in a residential oven. One caution: The aroma won't leave the oven very soon IMO. Just bake some salmon after you take the wood out. :yes:





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