How to seal red cedar

[RSKY]

Last Friday we cut down a red cedar tree behind my deceased father-in-law's house. I saved several properly sized limbs and want to make coasters from them. These will go to my wife, sister-in-law, and both daughters. What do I use and how do I seal them. Right not the bare wood is sticky with sap when you pick up a piece. The wood is beautiful with a cross section that is white outside and a red inner section.

A few years ago a large walnut tree blew over at my mother's house. I cut several 1"-2" thick 18" diameter sections out of the trunk. My wife sealed them with polyurethane and used them as center pieces on the tables at a lady's luncheon at our church. Since then they have been borrowed and used several times at showers and teas. For some reason the country women in our community love those things. But,....the walnut had none of the sticky sap that the cedar has.

On a side note, I have a partially torn rotator cuff in my left shoulder. The tree had to be cut off at head height as per the contractor's instruction so his small track hoe could get the stump out of the ground. When my wife arrived on the scene I had the chainsaw above my head making the final cut. She was not happy.

RSKY

 

[jaxs]

I have built several things over the years from Red (airomatic) Cedar and settled on lacquer for finishing. I've always air dried before using but if forced to use green I would try wiping sap off w/lacquer thinner then applying lacquer. I reccomend cutting rounds and air drying as long as you can before finishing. If you have a selection of finishes on hand,do some with water base clear. For coasters I'd steer clear of shellac due to moisture clouding.

 

[bunyip]

I have used latex paint, parafin wax and bitumen paint to seal end grain to reduce checking/cracking, it prolongs the drying time but worth the wait sometimes, red cedar I am not familiar with so I don't know what it is like for checking.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Shellac.

 

[Tinhack]

The mention of aromatic cedar brought back many old memories. I remember cedar retaining it's enjoyable smell even when dried. Seems a shame to seal it.

 

[skipmarcy]

Eastern red cedar dries pretty quickly, especially in smaller pieces. Give it a little time and then use polyurethane - will stay in color from then on. Even the so-called clear liquid preservatives will change the color permanently.

 

[Doughknob]

I'd paint the ends of the limbs, leave the bark on and let sit for a couple years in my hay mow to air dry.

 

[RSKY]

Thanks for all the information. I will try several different methods and see what works best.

RSKY

 

[oosik]

My entire house is Western Red cedar - inside and out. It's a pre-cut house. Put it together like Lincoln logs. It's a double walled Pan Abode - made in Redmond, WA.

I've tried many different products on the outside. Polyurethane was beautiful but a TOTAL failure. The cedar breathes and the poly ended up creating huge blisters. Log oil looked nice but yellowed with time. Behr was nice but chipped and yellowed with time.

The very best product and what I finally ended up using - InWood semi gloss oil stain. It soaks deep into the cedar, protects it, looks nice and does not have any of the previously mentioned negatives.

I would suggest some "flavor" of oil stain. It comes in many colors - natural, red wood, oak, cedar, etc, etc. Let the oil stain dry for a couple months and then try a varnish product. Being the rounds will be relatively small and should completely dry - they may not blister using varnish.

 

[jaxs]

Painting,staining,waxing,oiling,coloring and otheriwse obscuring grain and color of Eastern Red Cedar make's as much sense as Scotchgard on tailor made wool Italian blazers. OP live's in and fell tree in Kentucky so it must be an Eastern Red Cedar aka Juniperus virginiana which is among the most beautiful wood in N. America.