Finish for outdoor cedar

[rodger.]

Usually I would just let it gray naturally, but would like to protect a deck made from cedar.

It is yet to be built, so I have some time.  I was thinking rosewood oil from penofin, which I hear is good.  Definitely don't want a film.

Any opinions?

[drzaius]

If it forms no film, then it'll have to be reapplied about yearly. I have an Ipe deck & researched the hell out of this topic. After reapplying finishes for a few years, I decided to let it go grey.

[SawDustB]

I've got a cedar deck on my place. I used an oil based clear deck stain the first few years, and while it looked great after going on, it failed and flaked the surface every time after about a year (or less). After the third time of sanding the deck surface, I gave up and put on a semi transparent latex based stain. Let me know if you actually find something that works. I should note that I get a lot of sun, so that's likely the cause.

On another note, pressure washing cedar is generally a bad idea. It's so soft, that you'll end up with your deck being coated in splintery fuzz. I had that happen in a couple spots just from scrubbing by hand, so I actually found sanding was faster and less destructive.

[JosephThomas]

Just saw this article on pop woodworking last night:

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/finish-choices-for-a-wood-deck

He basically recommends doing nothing on a rot resistant wood like cedar if you don't care about color, but if you do stick to oil-base, he says the water base is useless.  Also, I think Marc said the non-filming finish he put on his outdoor picnic table was failing/useless at way less than the 1 year mark...if true you might want to reconsider using something that doesn't film. YMMV of course.

[trialbyfire]

This upcoming weekend my dad and I are building some Adirondack chairs and a table or of cedar. In my lengthy 30 minutes of reading the backs of finishes at Woodcraft on Saturday I settled on Watco's Exterior "natural" finish. If you don't mind waiting a year or so I can let you know how well it works.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[TerryMcK]

I'm making yet more gates for the castle at the moment with an iroko frame and western red cedar boards. Ordinarily you don't have to treat either with a finish, as they are both rot resistant, but I'm going to use General Finishes Exterior 450. I've used it many times before and it is waterborne so you can spray it or use foam brushes.

I'm not so sure how resilient 450 would be on a deck with all the walking over it would be subjected to though. Seems like a lot of trouble to go to as your severe winters take no prisoners.

[Janello]

Sikkens cetol natural is the ARS of outdoor cedar. 

Doesn't hide the grain, only enhances it. Can be recoated and lasts for years. Your local HD may even carry it. This table has 3 coats applied by rag.

Before

After

[rodger.]

8 hours ago, Janello said:

Sikkens cetol natural is the ARS of outdoor cedar. 

Doesn't hide the grain, only enhances it. Can be recoated and lasts for years. Your local HD may even carry it. This table has 3 coats applied by rag.

Before

After

Looks great!  How thick a film does it form?

[Tom King]

Sikkens. Doesn't really form a film, but lasts for years.  We've tried everything on the market on docks here.  Nothing else (yet) comes close.

It's much thinner, and runnier, than water.  If you put it on with a roller, without watching what you're doing, you'll lose half of it down the cracks.  Using a thin roller, dribble (more like a run) a bead down the middle of a board, and spread it around with the roller, not trying to soak the roller very much at all.

If the deck is not very large, use a brush on a day when you have a light breeze.  Without the light breeze, you will get a light head.

I haven't found a pump sprayer yet that works to suit me with it.

[Janello]

What Tom said. Might work best with a pad ( that you can scrape excess off ) rather than a roller.

[weithman5]

Janello

that table looks great.  I have a cedar table on my deck that is finished with a combo of tung oil mineral spirits and spar varnish. basically just some stuff i through together.  I am making another one and I think I will try that Silkkens.  I am not so sure I would limit that to only outdoor cedar either. I think it would look great on a cedar dart board cabinet I have planned

[Tom King]

On decks and docks here, it lasts around 7 years before it needs to be redone.  I just wait until it's to the point that it's getting in bad shape, pressure wash it with bleach first then rinse well with a 4.4gpm pressure washer with a wide enough fan not to erode the wood, let dry for how ever many days or weeks it takes, sand with floor buffer and 100 grit screen after it's really dry, and recoat with the Sikkens Cetol.  Then it's nice and smooth, and good for another 7 years or so.

I haven't found anything else that lasted longer than 2 years, but haven't tried anything new on the market in a good while.  I noticed today, in Lowes, that Thompson's has a new "premiere" finish that replaces their UV resistant coating, which I was never very impressed with.

If you use multiple gallons of a color, mix it all together to start with, even if it's supposed to be all the same color batch.  On a 32'square dock, with 8x16 walkway out to it, I bought 7 gallons, including one 5 gallon container.  We used the 5 gallon first, to see how far it would go, thinking we might take back a single gallon or two.  We ended up using all of it, but the two single gallon cans were darker than the 5 gallon.

 

[rodger.]

3 hours ago, Tom King said:

Sikkens. Doesn't really form a film, but lasts for years.  We've tried everything on the market on docks here.  Nothing else (yet) comes close.

It's much thinner, and runnier, than water.  If you put it on with a roller, without watching what you're doing, you'll lose half of it down the cracks.  Using a thin roller, dribble (more like a run) a bead down the middle of a board, and spread it around with the roller, not trying to soak the roller very much at all.

If the deck is not very large, use a brush on a day when you have a light breeze.  Without the light breeze, you will get a light head.

I haven't found a pump sprayer yet that works to suit me with it.

Are there multiple versions?  I would like to keep the colour natural.  Which you recommend?

[Janello]

2 hours ago, weithman5 said:

I think it would look great on a cedar dart board cabinet I have planned

I agree, no reason not to use it inside. I'd love to see pics when you build that DB!

26 minutes ago, Pug said:

Are there multiple versions?  I would like to keep the colour natural.  Which you recommend?

They have Cetol1, SRD and deck stains in the line up. My research showed that Sikkens Cetol Natural was best for outdoor cedar, and that is what's on that table. 

I've never used the other products they have so can't share an opinion on that. Maybe Tom can shed some light. 

[drzaius]

Wonder how the Mahogany would look on Ipe. Even if I could get 5 good years out of it I'd be happy.

[Tom King]

I've only used the Cetol.  I would think it would last longer than 5 years up there.  It suffers the worst here in very hot Summers.

[Alan G]

That table looks great! Is that the "RE" formulation of the Sikkens Cetol SRD? I am able to get either version depending on the retailer and was curious if there was any performance differences.

They have Natural and Natural Oak.....You used just Natural?

[Janello]

3 hours ago, Alan G said:

That table looks great! Is that the "RE" formulation of the Sikkens Cetol SRD? I am able to get either version depending on the retailer and was curious if there was any performance differences.

They have Natural and Natural Oak.....You used just Natural?

It's been so long and they have so many products that now I am second guessing myself as to if it was the SRD or not. They may have even discontinued what I have and replaced it with the SRD. I'm at work, but when I get home I will check the can I still have from that project and be more specific. I do remember it was offered in different tones, including, interestingly enough "cedar".

That table was definitely natural...not natural oak or any other tones they had available.

Something else that I recall now from doing a google search is they claim this to be a one coat application and I now remember I didn't put three coats on as I said earlier...I put one coat on and while it was still wet back wiped a second coat to even it out. If you load it up it will just pool on the surface, hence stain that does not build.

[Alan G]

5 hours ago, Janello said:

It's been so long and they have so many products that now I am second guessing myself as to if it was the SRD or not. They may have even discontinued what I have and replaced it with the SRD. I'm at work, but when I get home I will check the can I still have from that project and be more specific. I do remember it was offered in different tones, including, interestingly enough "cedar".

Sounds good. Thanks in advance for checking.

i have a set of cedar Adirondack chairs I made a few years ago that I am going to refinish with CPES and Epifanes. Might regret it but wanted to try that process.

Also need to put something on a cedar trellis and the patio set so looking forward to what ever info you can share from that old can of sikkens. 

[Janello]

42 minutes ago, Alan G said:

Sounds good. Thanks in advance for checking.

You're welcome. It turns out it was infact the SRD. Second pic is a close up of the product number. Be sure to post a pic, I'd love to see other projects done with this, but you can't go wrong with epifanes either.

[Tom King]

The good thing about this Sikkens on outdoor wood is that towards it's end of life, you can pressure wash it back down to bare wood.  You can't do that with varnish, with or without CPES under it.

[Alan G]

On 6/29/2016 at 5:09 PM, Janello said:

You're welcome. It turns out it was infact the SRD. Second pic is a close up of the product number. Be sure to post a pic, I'd love to see other projects done with this, but you can't go wrong with epifanes either.

The pics are great thanks! I am sure once I am on my 3rd or 4th coat of Epifanes and I will be hating life. I hope the results are worth it and the finish lasts. That will be a real pain to redo.

I hope to get to the patio set later in the summer on which I plan to use the Sikkens. I was looking at the colors....did you find the natural was a bit yellow? I will have to go to that big orange place and get a few colors to try out. Hope to be more on the brown/teak end of things.

i have realized that I totally hijacked this thread....sorry Pug.

[Janello]

27 minutes ago, Alan G said:

The pics are great thanks! I am sure once I am on my 3rd or 4th coat of Epifanes and I will be hating life. I hope the results are worth it and the finish lasts. That will be a real pain to redo.

I hope to get to the patio set later in the summer on which I plan to use the Sikkens. I was looking at the colors....did you find the natural was a bit yellow? I will have to go to that big orange place and get a few colors to try out. Hope to be more on the brown/teak end of things.

i have realized that I totally hijacked this thread....sorry Pug.

The yellowing doesn't last. It won't take long outdoors before that mellows to a light brown. Also, most of that yellow you see is lens overexposure. If you want a darker brown you'll need to experiment. Atleast we are still on topic!