Red Cedar

[groeneaj]

I understand Australia Red Cedar will naturally darken with age, but i'm after a finish that will slightly darken the timber.

Any suggestions?

Regards,
Andy

[RufflyRustic]

Oil - Danish, tung, even organoil.

Try it on a test piece, but 99% of the time, an oil finish with darken the timber.

cheers
Wendy :)

[rsser]

The classic finish is Shellac. With orange flakes this will give you some darkening.

Cedar is an open pored timber which Shellac fills.

Can be brushed on with a quality brush like the Gramercy (http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/Merchant/merchant.mvc?Screen=NEXT&StoreCode=toolstore&nextpage=/extra/brushmaking.html)from the US; see Neil's 'bible' on finishing.

[Shedhand]

Oil - Danish, tung, even organoil.

Try it on a test piece, but 99% of the time, an oil finish with darken the timber.

cheers
Wendy :)I just made a small box from silky oak with a Red Cedar lid. Very heavily grained from the fork of the tree. Finished to 1000 grit then 1 coat of China Wood oil then waxed and buffed with Ubeaut Trad Wax. Beeootiful to touch and behold. :2tsup:

[fletty]

I have just finished some Australian Red Cedar furniture......

http://www.woodworkforums.com/f11/secret-project-near-end-journey-119563/

... and I sand to 400, wipe/vacuum the dust off and 2 or 3 coats of boiled linseed oil (BLO) rubbed on with a soft cloth. After that it's really the finish of your choice as the BLO has 'popped' the grain and given the final appearance. For boxes etc I finish with UBeaut traditional wax but, for furniture, I finish with 2 or 3 coats of wipe-on poly and then wax,
fletty

[Greg Ward]

After you have sanded/thicknessed the timber, leave it in the sun for several days. It will darken and turn red, turn it a few times to ensure you don't get cupping.

Greg

[TP1]

A couple of things that I have done for a subtle darkening of Jarrah:

1. Use Wattyl sanding sealer as a base coat. This darkens the timber slightly compared to white shellac. It also fills the timber pores

2. Use oil based poly next. eg Wipe on Poly. The oil base warms the colour of darker hardwoods resulting in a pleasant but slightly darker tone.

Combined you will see a distinct but not over the top difference.

I once used Rustin's Danish Oil - it made the Jarrah look way too dark for my liking - no subtlety at all.

[RufflyRustic]

TP1's post reminded me of a couple of merbau boxes I made, where I darkened the timber by applying a coat of white shellac first, then some UBeaut water-based dye and then finishing with shellac and trad wax. This helped to pop the grain a bit and darken it just that little bit more to give me the look I wanted for the box.

One was the lattice lid box (http://www.usq.edu.au/users/hoeyw/photogallery/lattice.jpg) and the second was the bead lid box (http://www.usq.edu.au/users/hoeyw/images/Wood/dec2006/abacus1.jpg)

cheers
Wendy

[groeneaj]

Thankyou for the replies everyone :2tsup:

I saw an exhibitor at the Melbourne show (Cedar Works) and he had displayed/for sale an entertainment unit which was in Australia Red Cedar. I never asked what finish he used, but it looked a little darker than what iv'e seen before.
I'll try the above suggestions on some spare cedar and see how it comes up.

Andy :2tsup: