What finish on Eastern Red Cedar?

I use Minwax Natural Stain, then apply poly over the stain. I’ve also used Linseed Oil on eastern aromatic cedar with success. If this is for outdoor use, you may want to use a marine poly.

Nothing you use will last indefinitely, so be prepared to renew the finish periodically. A good marine varnish will last a couple years, depending on the weather it is exposed to. Many boaters with teak on their boats keep a regular annual maintenance routine of sanding and re-coating to keep the finish intact. It you let it go too long, the finish will fail and then it’s a major chore to strip and replace the finish.

Oil finishes will be less durable but much easier to renew.

Bottom line, there is no “finish and forget” solution for coating wood left out doors.

May be best to let it go a natural grey and not worry about it?

-- Murphy's Carpentry Corollary #3: Half of all boards cut to a specific length will be too short.

Thanks for the ideas! I’ll look into a marine varnish or poly. Yeah I hear you loud n clear that no outdoor finish is without maintenance… I googled finishing ERC and found a lot of conflicting opinions. Some claim poly or oil based finishes don’t adhere to cedar… The use of Minwax natural stain caught my eye. Never could understand what a “stain” with no pigment could possibly be good for… ;-)

-- "Good enough" is just another way of saying "it could be better"...

The Natural Stain will help the wood pop the color. Try some scrape pieces, and apply the natural stain and poly over it, then apply only poly on another piece of scrap. There is a significant difference.