Will WRC get "redder" with sunlight exposure?

[Kent A Bathurst]

On the gun lap of custom fence for neighbor, including entry gates under a large arbor.

I'm machining 4x6 and 6x6 timbers to get the component dimensions I want for the gates (pair of human gates, not car gates). There is, of course, a natural variation in the colors of the WRC used so far. The gate parts are fairly light color - just a hint of reddish tint to them.

The gates (and some decorative brackets for the arbor) are the only part of the deal that is going to receive a finish.

I have used the "lay it in the sunlight" trick to get cherry to move to a nice reddish color before finishing. Will WRC act in a similar way, or will it just accelerate the "move to grey" process? I'd love to get a deeper, reddish hue after machining, before the varnish goes on. [And - no - I won't consider dye/stain - sorry].

[David Helm]

The cedar will not get a darker red hue. It will turn grey over time. Doesn't matter what you use for finish outside, though linseed oil based finishes will cause the wood to turn very dark, almost black, because fungi love to feed on the oil. Just so you know, I have used Western Red Cedar for many years and have decades of experience watching it change. The variations in color are part of the beauty of the wood.

[Kent A Bathurst]

The cedar will not get a darker red hue. It will turn grey over time. Doesn't matter what you use for finish outside, though linseed oil based finishes will cause the wood to turn very dark, almost black, because fungi love to feed on the oil. Just so you know, I have used Western Red Cedar for many years and have decades of experience watching it change. The variations in color are part of the beauty of the wood.

David - you're exactly the guy I wanted to hear from - PNW - gotta know your way around this. Thanks much. The finish will be Epifanes, with the [yikes] 7-coat schedule. Just wanted to set off the entry a bit. I categorically 100% flatly refused to have any part of varnishing the entire fence and arbor (mainly because it would be a waste of time long-term - he would never put in the time to maintain it) - but he's a great guy, and he is certainly paying for my work, so I figured - what the heck - I'll varnish the gates and the decorations - he's excited about that. And then, in a couple years, I'll 'splain to him how to renew it, cause I sure as heck ain't gonna do it :D.

Arts+Crafts overall design. Arbor has keyed through-tenons in main cross-beams, and gates will have raised square plugs over assembly screws in the blind tenons. Keys and plugs [and post caps with an A+C-meets-FLW flavor] will be Ipe - with varnish to maintain a color contrast to the greying WRC. Needed something "tougher" than the soft WRC for those bits and pieces.

I had this terriffic [IMHO] design all ready to go for the gates that took key design elements from Charles Rennie Mackintosh furniture, but the neighbor and my own wife [!!!] shot that down as too much for their basic bungalow. I routinely give both of them s**t for lack of vision and drama on that decision.

One last question for you - I'll use well-fitted M+T joinery in the gates - any reason Titebond III will be an abject failure? This isn't the project I want to use to learn my way around epoxy, gorilla, etc - so I'm going with the T3 - used gallons of that over the years, so I'm very comfortable there.

Thanks again

Kent

[David Helm]

The T3 will likely work OK. Gorilla is actually pretty easy to get to know. For things like gates that get a lot of banging I would probably either screw or peg the M&T joints. As a matter of fact, that is exactly what I did when I was making a living doing that exact kind of work. By the way, I'd love to see some pictures. Your design sounds right up my alley.

[Kent A Bathurst]

The T3 will likely work OK. Gorilla is actually pretty easy to get to know. For things like gates that get a lot of banging I would probably either screw or peg the M&T joints. As a matter of fact, that is exactly what I did when I was making a living doing that exact kind of work. By the way, I'd love to see some pictures. Your design sounds right up my alley.

I've used the Gorilla a bit in the past - but wasn't paying close enough attention, I guess - foam out of joints, yikes - pilot error no doubt - flew it straight into the hill. As I said - this isn't the project I want to choose to learn.

Each M&T joint will be screwed #12 SS - thinking 4 per joint, but we'll see [the tenons look like they will be 2-1/2" x 3" top, and x 4" bottom, and oh - say - 1-1/2" thick. Stiles and rails just came out of the planer right at 2-9/16" thick.

Will be glad to post some photos - you were kind enought to take some shots for me of your arbor [I'm pretty sure it was you]. Won't be right away, though, unless you want a few of finished fence, 92.7% finished arbor, 0% finished gates................

The gates themselves won't weigh a huge amount, because of the lighter-than-air density of WRC, but the 45# 6-yr-old adds to the rotational dynamics and angular acceleration calculations. As I explained to her Dad "Yep - excellent idea - tell her not to swing on the gates. That oughta work out just as well as the other stuff you tell her not to do." That's why the components are so beefy.