Best Finish For Cedar Furniture

Cedar will also outlast any finish you put on it.

Best finish for cedar furniture.

If we are talking about western red or yellow cedar any common interior finish will work just dandy though for a kitchen table i d go with oil based polyurethane. Being the best finish for outdoor cedar furniture just one coat of it will give you the desired result. For smooth planed flat grained cedar some surface preparation may be desirable. Outdoor cedar furniture should be finished with a wood sealer as this will give the wood a much better protection against rain and moisture.

You should wait for 2 hours for the first coat to dry and apply the second coat after 4 hours. I like just plain old unfinished soft smooth beautiful natural silvery gray cedar outdoors. On flat grained wood the surface should be scuff sanded with 50 60 grit sandpaper. The purity clear formula yields high solid finishes bringing out the natural beauty of the wood s color and texture.

Real cedar member sansin s purity series can be used for interior applications. The finish will fail by halves and it will look awful for most of its failing life. However if you want a darker tone you can apply a second layer. A clear finish using any of a wide variety of clear finishes is acceptable for interior furniture.

It takes two hours for the finish to become dry to the touch. Use stainless steel hardware and waterproof adhesives whenever you can. Eastern red also called aromatic cedar will sometimes prevent oil based finishes from curing. The naturally occurring oils in cedar give it a certain amount of resistance to termites.

Indoor cedar furniture should use a clear coat polyurethane as this will give the wood a smooth and shiny finish. Surface preparation is not necessary for textured cedar. Exterior furniture is prone to water damage because of its exposure to rain and dew thus using a maximum strength one coat waterproofing product is a must. For a crystal clear high performance finish that doesn t amber the wood purity glacier is a good option.

As with any interior furniture exercise caution in allowing the furniture to receive too much direct sunlight.