I will be starting a small project in the next few days of building a small bookcase. For the top as well as some of the trim I would like to use some rough cut siding that I took off a older barn that I believe is cedar. It is not in bad shape and has the nice grey weathered look to it. I would like to keep as much of that as I can. What finish would you all recommend? I would prefer it not be a high gloss finish. I have considered just using BLO but that won't seal it up or allow for it to be easily cleaned with a rag later. What are your suggestions?
On rough finished Cedar, all I can imagine is some bulletproof type of epoxy or something really hard, and thick as it dries, or else every time you do go to dust it off the cloth will get stuck on the roughness of the Cedar. DAMHIKT. They say you learn through experience. I learned a long time back that rough Cedar is awesome on the EXTERIOR of the house, not so much on the interior.
Sometimes (perhaps often) you have to choose between different results. It cannot be both smooth and rough. If you remove the roughness you will lose the weathered grey appearance. Just cutting the boards to make the bookcase will expose raw wood that conflicts with the rough, weathered surfaces. It's your choice.
Sometimes (perhaps often) you have to choose between different results. It cannot be both smooth and rough. If you remove the roughness you will lose the weathered grey appearance. Just cutting the boards to make the bookcase will expose raw wood that conflicts with the rough, weathered surfaces. It s your choice.
You can put an oil finish on it and just one coat will get soaked right into the wood but I don't think it will accomplish what you want.
If you must put a finish on I would try a clear shellac if over anything else I can think of. It will soak in and dry quickly. Make some test applications and see how many coats it takes to build up a surface finish so you can determine when to stop to get the final affect your are looking for. As with all new finish applications, test and test again.
Otherwise I agree just leave it and use a brush on the vacuum to dust it instead of a cloth.
My dining table is sort of rough finished. Still has the saw marks from milling over 100 years ago and I didn't want to loose that. I sanded up to 220 to knock down all the high spots and really poky bits and then used armor seal. I didn't sand it aggressively and did light passes. The armor seal is holding up relatively well over the last 2 years and the table still has the rough look but is smooth enough. There are a few spots that are honestly too rough to wipe off with a towel without it catching at least 1 string, thats annoying but the rest is great. Its a compromise between rough sawn and smooth enough.
A while back I made this box with rough cut barnwood. I only planed one side. I don't think I used any stain. I used Minwax satin poly waterbase. I think I applied 4 coats on the exterior. Scuff sanded with two quick passes of 180 grit before the 1st coat and same between each coat. These pictures gives a you a idea of my finish results.
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