western red cedar kithchen bench tops - what finish?????

[Steve5858]

Hi all,
after some advice on a western red cedar kitchen benchtop (very soft wood i know but i didn't put it in).
I stripped it back to bare timber and applied 4 coats of Feast and Watson - Floorproof onto it (last coat 4 days ago).My question is will this protect the bench top from knock/bumps/everyday wear and tear??? or should i have used a different product (?wattyl 7000ab / or a marine varnish??). I really dont want to sand it back but will if i have to. A plate was dropped (not heavy or from height) today leaving a dent - so obviosly not too impressed so far with the protection of the finish. It says on can full cure takes 7 days - so it may toughen up a bit more in the days to come - or will it be prone to knocks etc??

any thought or advice would be great
steve

[orraloon]

Welcome Steve,
About the hardest wearing finish would be a 2 pac poly floor finish. Having said that cedar is a soft wood and no finish will totally prevent it denting if hard things are bashed on it. A finish is just a skin, the wood below will remain soft. The finish you have applied will do as well as most. It is a cedar top just be gentle with it.

Regards
John

[artme]

G'day Steve and welcome to this gathering of the wise!
John is spot on!!

[BobL]

We have oregon benchtops. Initially I applied 2 coats of single pack epoxy (same as the stuff used on floors) and it lasted about 3 years. The second time I applied 4 coats of 2 pack - no difference, still lasted bout 3 years. Now it needs another recoating - darn - this sort of thing just takes away from my shed time.

[echnidna]

What ever you do you are going to have many dents on the top in a very short while.

WR cedar is just far too soft for a bench top so it doesn't matter what finish you use as most if not all finishes will deteriorate rapidly around and in dents.

[Steve5858]

thanks for the advice guys, i will try and be gentle with it and see how it goes, it came up a treat after the sanding and F and W finish - just a shame if it was a waste of time.

[Kool nda Gang]

So Steve 8 years down the track how did your cedar benchtop go? I am in the same dilemma and have some cedar to use for the same purpose any insight would be welcome thank you

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So Steve 8 years down the track how did your cedar benchtop go? I am in the same dilemma and have some cedar to use for the same purpose any insight would be welcome thank you

[Austin_Turner]

He made two forum posts...total. Some things in life will remain a mystery.

[Tonyz]

So Steve 8 years down the track how did your cedar benchtop go? I am in the same dilemma and have some cedar to use for the same purpose any insight would be welcome thank you

- - - Updated - - -

So Steve 8 years down the track how did your cedar benchtop go? I am in the same dilemma and have some cedar to use for the same purpose any insight would be welcome thank you

Dont use western red cedar, or if you have it already, Id see about putting a 6/9,, ply of something heavier quality and running a soft curve around the edge to blend it in with base

[artful bodger]

The local pub has a huon pine bartop. The current owner installed the bar top for the previous publican 20 + years ago. Recently (last few weeks) the current owner took out the bar and re-finished it. He used EIGHTEEN coats of 2 pac finish on it and said, "that will be the last time I ever need to do that job again". Reckoned he used 3 or 4 coats the first time.

[havabeer69]

cabbots have a kitchen bench poly out that is "food safe" the claim it now if you leave food on the bench it wont leech anything into your food.

they also claim its help prevents heat rings.

[Alkahestic]

I made a step stool out of surian cedar, also quite soft, about 3 months ago. Two coats of oil based Feast Watson semi gloss poly and so far it's held up fine with daily use. The poly definitely makes the surface a lot tougher but you can still indent the cedar without too much effort. If dings are really going to annoy you, don't use cedar.