Cedar slab coffee table finishing

Hi everyone,
I have a lovely and very expensive cedar slab coffee table. Its cut from the fork of the tree so is in the shape of a Y and is about 2 inches thick x 2m long x 1.5 wide at its widest.
I recently sanded it back as its been 10 years since i bought it.
It had an old semi gloss type of coating on it which i completely removed. I dont know what this was as it was on it when i bought it.

I didnt really know what finish to use but ended up going with feast and watson outdoor furniture oil to recoat it.
Unfortunately I applied this way too thick for the soft timber and it furred up pretty badly in patches where the grain is tighter (knots and where the Y parts).
Big mistake for a newbie!
So im going to need to sand it back again a little, but it will still have some oil finish left in it as I wont take it all the way back to new wood.
I am unsure what to use now as I am not happy with the colur the furnitute oil has sent the timber.
It was a deeper red with the previous finish but the furniture oil has made it a touch pinky.
I do have a tin of feast and watson oil based weatherproof varnish, in semi gloss, but due to my colouring concerns of the outdoor furniture oil i am hesitant to use it.

The table is generally only used indoors, but sits outside sometimes on the deck.
Any ideas on what I should coat this with?
Happy to send pics if anyone is interested.
Kind regards
Ben

All photos are good, gives a better idea.

you have plenty of meat to play with in the table thickness, and If you're not happy with the colour then you will need to bring back to bare wood. why not try Danish oil, or Tung oil, wipe on, let soak, wipe off excess come back tomorrow for 4 days and you end up with a nice relatively hard wearing finish. if you do manage to get heavy handed, then sand with 320/400 or steel wool after the coat that was thick then apply another coat. Ensure you wipe ALL excess off o ensure a better finish

Indoor finishes are fine for this piece unless it being exposed to the elements

I'd like to see that.
All sandpapers shred wood fiber. Big or little, always shredded, always furry, can't be helped with sandpapers.
You will be 10X better off to use cabinet scrapers. Those edges actually cut the wood fiber. Microscopic curly shavings!
You get a smooth and glossy surface to finish.
Not magic, I make my own from hard steel lumber strapping junk.
Find a copy of Leonard Lee: The Complete Guide to Sharpening. Read chapter 11.

Danish oil is usually made up of an oil, some type of ploy and driers. Look at the back of the tin to get more info.

I have used Danish oil and have now used hard shellac on a small stool. The hard shellac I got from UBeaut.

Hi everybody,
Thanks for your replies.
I will see if i can work out how to upload a picture for you.
I first thought i should use tung oil but i wasnt sure if it would be suitable for cedar as cedar is so soft.

It wasnt the sandpaper that made it furry.
It sanded back beautifully. It was that i splashed on too much oil and didnt wipe it off but left it to soak on thinking the more the better. Trying to get it deeper into the woosd.
Ben

Your raising the grain with the first coat of whatever finish you choose to use. A wipe over with metho straight after sanding will raise the grain and dry quickly allowing resanding within minutes. By using this method you can eliminate raised grain before a finish is applied.

Hi Rusty,
I dont quite understand what you mean.
Are you saying I should resand it, then wipe over with metho, then resand it again before I apply a whole new finish?
Or are you saying to rectify the raised grain I have created, to sand ---> metho ---> sand again? And then wont need to apply another finish?
Thanks
Ben

Ben, when starting from scratch, you sand the bare timber to desired level of whatever grit you choose, then wipe down with metho to raise the grain and then re-sand with the last grit you used before applying the metho, then apply finish of choice, it’ll then stay smooth instead of going furry as you’ve described.

But in your case, because you’ve already applied the oil, just re-sand with the last grit you used and then apply a light coat, it should then be very smooth depending on high a grit you have sanded.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zongatron

Hi Rusty,
I dont quite understand what you mean.
Are you saying I should resand it, then wipe over with metho, then resand it again before I apply a whole new finish?
Or are you saying to rectify the raised grain I have created, to sand ---> metho ---> sand again? And then wont need to apply another finish?
Thanks
Ben

---

After each sanding, a quick wipe over with metho will raise the grain. Once the metho has dried, sand the raised grain down again. Repeat until the surface remains smooth after the metho has dried. Now the grain will not be so inclined to stand up when you apply the final finishing. The metho has done all the grain raising and dried so quickly there is no waiting between sandings other than a few seconds.

Attachment 452959Attachment 452960

I have begun sanding back to remove the furring but thet pinky colour is still evident.
This photo is the finish it originally had, more a deeper red. Im hesitant to put anything on it until i can replicate the deeper red.

I think i may have to experiment on the underside.

Attachment 452961

Lovely Table! For all my "heavy" use furniture I use (and please don't let anyone know me secret....) tung oil based floor sealer.....never fails me and you can bet that if its good enough to walk on it will take anything the family can throw at it!

Like many timbers, Toona ciliata, so-called Australian Cedar (also grows in Asia), shows a wide range of colour from quite light pink to very dark red. It is possible that the original colour that you liked was an enhanced colour from a stain.

I have had to match some very wide leaves for an Australian cedar extension table, with each leaf being a single board 610 mm by 1550 mm. The original, 1840s cedar leaves were a dark, rich red. The only wide enough boards of timber I could obtain was from paddock-grown cedar (NNSW) and was a light pink. I stained it with a spirit-based stain until it matched the original colour, then French Polished with brown button shellac to match the original finish (I could not match the original ribbon-figure of the cedar, but the leaves are the correct size and they look OK).

The spirit stains come in a number of shades called names like cedar, mahogany, walnut etc. I usually mix different colours together and do test patches (different mixes and dilutions) on scrap or on the underside until I get a matching colour. These dyes are light-fast indoors but would fade over time if left out in full sun.

I hope this helps.

David

Hi,

You seem to be reaching desperation point!

Here is a pic of a Red Cedar SIdeboard I did some ten years ago with Hard Burnishing Oil. If you want, I can send you the method. It's simple straight forward and reliable. The finish will last in excess of 10 years (my own observation on my stuff that gets significant use) If you are interested, send me a PM and I'll detail it for you. For the slab you have, you may be looking at about 2-3 hours work.

Regards,

Rob

Attachment 453098

Hi,
PM sent. Any questions, just ask.

Regards,

Rob