I'm about to test finishing on Spanish cedar.
My first time adirondack chairs and table have been built, disassembled, sanded (120 grit), and ready for finish.
Since I don't want to muck this up I'm going to do some testing on scraps. If I'm doing something drastically wrong please tell me. I have plenty of scraps.
5 side grain scraps
1) No conditioner, stain with Sikkens Proluxe Cetol SRD, no sanding sealer, topped with Proluxe 23 Plus RE
2) Minwax pre stain conditioner, cetol srd stain within 15 minutes, bullseye sanding sealer, Cetol 23
3) conditioner, stain within 2 hours, sealer, Cetol 23
4) same as above but wait 8 hours to stain
5) same as above but wait 12+ hours to stain
(I'm testing the different times due to the contradictory info I keep finding about staining before or after the conditioner has dried).
End grain
Sanded to 220 (sanding pad) then try 10% PVA to seal
Same and above but use bullseye seal
Then I'll try both again sanded to 320 first.
I'll be using either natural bristle brushes or Terry cloth sponges for application. Not sure which yet.
This is very soft wood (Janka 600 something) and I know it will suck up anything I put on it.
😨