I've just rough turned my first two red cedar bowls. When I arrive at that stage what are the "best" finishes for that wood?
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finish for red cedar
- Thread starter cwearing
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Red cedar as in???
Aromatic wants shellac or lacquer. Darn stuff is so oily and loaded with things that soften oil-compatible finishes it's a waste of effort to try.
Western red will allow pretty much what you want.
Watch your nose, it sensitizes fast.
Aromatic wants shellac or lacquer. Darn stuff is so oily and loaded with things that soften oil-compatible finishes it's a waste of effort to try.
Western red will allow pretty much what you want.
Watch your nose, it sensitizes fast.
Not to change the subject, but we call Juniper trees Cedar. What would you say about finishing that?
John Jordan
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It will heat check if you wave sandpaper at it too fast. Keep really fresh paper, and go SLOW.
John
John
John is absolutely correct - Red "cedar" (Juniperus spp.) checks quite easily with oversanding (DAMHIKT....) - keep it cool as you finish it. It is a soft, yet brittle wood, so care must be taken, especially when it is turned thin. I don't turn a lot of this species (mostly because of the overwhelming odor and noxious dust), but I've done some pretty pieces with it over the years. (By the way - 'true" cedars are of the genus Cedrus - what we call "cedars" in North America are usually of the genus Juniperus.)
In my experience, oil finishes darken the wood quite significantly, to the point where it detracts from the effect I'm looking for (preserving the red color as long as possible). Regardless of what you do as a finish, the beautiful red color fades to brown like many colorful woods do as they age into their 'patina' coloration. I have used blonde shellac as a sanding sealer, and either sprayed lacquer (pre-cat/nitrocellulose) or water-based polyurethane as the film finishes that I have found darkens the wood the least.
Do a good job to protect yourself from the dust of this species as you sand.
Good luck,
Rob
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You might try no finish. Sand to 400 grit and just buff with the Beal buffing system. That's what I do.
Steve Worcester
Admin Emeritus
I think cedar is a juniper, but Juniper is not a cedar. Although, juniper berries can be use to make gin...
Will it heat check if you rough turn it, let it dry then return it?
I've made several small serving trays out of red cedar and finished them with wipe-on poly. It works well as long as you first wipe the dry cedar with mineral spirits to clean off the natural wood oil. Haven't had any complaints about the finish not lasting either.
Weeds
Don't know what genus they are, but in southeast Kansas we call them noxious weed trees. We removed and burned over 1,000 of them last year from our land and expect there are still in the neighborhood of 5,000-10,000 on our property. I took aside one trunk that had a pretty star-like pattern in the pith and have been thinking about turning an end-grain bowl (i.e. norfolk island pine). Anyone ever try this?
Don't know what genus they are, but in southeast Kansas we call them noxious weed trees. We removed and burned over 1,000 of them last year from our land and expect there are still in the neighborhood of 5,000-10,000 on our property. I took aside one trunk that had a pretty star-like pattern in the pith and have been thinking about turning an end-grain bowl (i.e. norfolk island pine). Anyone ever try this?
Probably is the 'red cedar' we're talkling about....
Do you have a picture (or pictures) of the plants you are asking about? (Whole tree, and closeup of leaves/bark ??) Pretty easy to confirm the ID on this tree...
This is most likely a species of a common old field successional Juniperus species (likely J. virginiana), which as a very widespread distribution in North America, including SE Kansas. These are easily distributed plants (often by birds), and establish readily. These have small, blueish, fleshy cones (mistakenly called juniper "berries"), and many scale-like leaves, with a tall, almost columnar growth habit. This is the "red cedar" we're talking about.... ...let a few grow to some size (trunk thickness), and you'll have some good turning wood, especially easy when wet.
And yes Wyatt, you can turn it "green" like any other wood (end grain OK), but if you re-turn it when dry and sand it, THIS is the stage in the finishing process that it is most subject to heat checking. You'll find that Junipers have less sticky sap than most pine species, or even Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria)
Cheers,
Rob Wallace
Do you have a picture (or pictures) of the plants you are asking about? (Whole tree, and closeup of leaves/bark ??) Pretty easy to confirm the ID on this tree...
This is most likely a species of a common old field successional Juniperus species (likely J. virginiana), which as a very widespread distribution in North America, including SE Kansas. These are easily distributed plants (often by birds), and establish readily. These have small, blueish, fleshy cones (mistakenly called juniper "berries"), and many scale-like leaves, with a tall, almost columnar growth habit. This is the "red cedar" we're talking about.... ...let a few grow to some size (trunk thickness), and you'll have some good turning wood, especially easy when wet.
And yes Wyatt, you can turn it "green" like any other wood (end grain OK), but if you re-turn it when dry and sand it, THIS is the stage in the finishing process that it is most subject to heat checking. You'll find that Junipers have less sticky sap than most pine species, or even Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria)
Cheers,
Rob Wallace