Cedar finish

[darrenjttu]

Ok I have a cedar bowl that I am finishing up right now and so far I am on the 6th coat of wipe on poly and you cant even tell I put anything on it. It keeps soaking up the finish. I put sanding sealer prior to the first coat of poly and after 6 coats nothing. What kind of finish can I put on future cedar bowls that wont absorb it all. Keep in mind that I do not have any fancy spray equipment. Thanks in advance.

Darren

 

[GouletPens]

You could use straigh poly, the kind you brush on. It's the same stuff as the wipe on poly, but thicker. You could always put a seal coat of shellac under the poly(should be thicker than sanding sealer), or just do shellac.

 

[TellicoTurning]

Your piece is a bowl and if it's to be used for food, I'm not sure my advice will help...

Most of my cedar is really old growth that has been down and drying for about 5 years or more so I have little oil in it and it's almost all heartwood as the sap wood is now mostly powder around the heartwood. I just run my cedar pieces through a couple coats of tripoli and then carnuba wax...

I do have some new cedar that just got cut in October or November and on the one piece I've done from it, I'm having a similar problem.... I used danish oil on it and am on the 2nd or 3rd coat, it's still absorbing the oil too.

 

[jackrichington]

If you are eating out of the bowl, I'd put nothing on it..if it's an art bowl, then you need a first coat that "seals" the wood then topcoats..cedar is cedar, and it's going to slurp it up