Excellent results using technique learned on SMC!

[Stephen Edwards]

I've had excellent results with one particular techinque that I read about here on SMC. I work a lot with eastern red cedar, which is noted for tear out during planing because of irregular grain.....the grain is apt to switch directions. That particular problem has always annoyed me and been a hassle to deal with. Now that I have drum sander it's less of a problem but still comes up ocassionally. Here's the solution that has worked well for me:

When I have an annoying void in a piece of otherwise nice cedar, or any other species of wood for that matter, that is too deep to sand out I first sand the void so that there are no jagged or rough edges around the perimeter and the bottom. In other words I try to make the void a smoothed out shallow "bowl" shape. Then, I apply whatever clear finish to the void and surrounding area that I'm going to use on the project I'm working on. (I don't use stains so I can't offer advice about that.) After the finish has dried I fill the void with one or more coats of crazy glue until it's a bit higher than the surrounding area. After the crazy glue has dried I sand it down flush with the the surrounding area of the void. Then, I apply the clear finish as normal to the project.

By following the above steps I find that the void is hardly noticible at all. The trick is to sand the roughness of the void first and then a coat of the finish in the void before filling with crazy glue.

Thanks to those of you who turned me on to this very useful technique that has solved a problem for me!

[Chris Padilla]

I'll be working with some WESTERN red cedar for my next project so we'll see how it does but this sounds like an excellent trick that I'm sure I may need to employ!

How does this 'trick' hold up assuming it was placed outside?

[Casey Carr]

I was under the impression that you didn't want to put any kind of finish on cedar because of the chemicals found in cedar? Something about the finish never drying and staying kind of gummy? Or is it the type of cedar? Please correct me if I'm wrong here.

[Stephen Edwards]

I'll be working with some WESTERN red cedar for my next project so we'll see how it does but this sounds like an excellent trick that I'm sure I may need to employ!

How does this 'trick' hold up assuming it was placed outside?

Chris,

I don't know how the crazy glue holds up outdoors, no experience with that. However, I would THINK that if you are using an outdoor finish on top of the cedar it should do alright. Again, that's just a guess.

[Chris Padilla]

Well, seeing how my cedar will be a gate in few weeks, it will probably get dinged decently over the years so trying to keep it mar-free may be an effort in futility!

[Stephen Edwards]

I was under the impression that you didn't want to put any kind of finish on cedar because of the chemicals found in cedar? Something about the finish never drying and staying kind of gummy? Or is it the type of cedar? Please correct me if I'm wrong here.

Casey,

The I've used both western cedar and eastern red cedar. I've used finsih on both species, but have more experience with the eastern red cedar.

With the eastern red cedar I've never encoutered a problem with finishing it. I've used tung oil finishes, polyurethene, spar urethene and shellac. Having said that, I use only lumber that is thoroughly dried, air dried, and I use lumber that is clear or has only small knots, ideally knots no larger than a quarter. I have a piece in my home that I built 30 years ago with cedar finished with hand rubbed tung oil. It darkens with age but no problems at all with the finish.

For inside closets or chests I don't finish it because you lose the aromatic quality when you apply a finish.