Hi everyone–
My friend and I decided to build some picnic tables — in the instructions, they said they “left this project bare rather than finishing with an exterior topcoat, because most of these products aren’t safe for use on eating surfaces.” But we’d like to preserve that beautiful golden cedar color if we can, rather than leaving them bare and letting them turn grey in the elements. Anyone have any suggestions on what to use?
And a quick introduction, since I’ve never posted before: I’m a woodworker wannabe, have been reading Fine Woodworking and FH for years, drooling over all the wonderful tools and projects, and hoping to someday build furniture of my own. (I HAVE done lots of renovations over the years, growing up and now in my own home too…) Anyway, I figured a kid-sized picnic table (made of 4 1x6s and 4 2x4s only!) would be a good place to start. Found a friend who thought it sounded like a fun idea and so today, we got started! Only one mis-hap so far – I was measuring for cuts, made a mark at 42″ by mistake, then made another mark at 48″ but was called away before I scribed the cutting line. She was cutting — saw the mark at 42″, scribed a quick line, dropped that compound miter saw on her line, then wondered why that slat was decidedly shorter than all the others… : ) Oh well.
Thanks for any insights or ideas,
Karin
Replies
I made some benches out of Western Red Cedar. I used shellac to finish them because I was told that other finishes would not work on Cedar. Shellac is a very safe finish. The directions on can claim it is hypoallergenic.
Shellac is GREAT.. In fact they use it to coat candy (I think) and in many other foods... .. Not very water proof though...
BUT EASY to sand ' a bit' and re-finish if it gets messed up!
Built a greenhouse for my wife. Made a potting bench out of pine decking. Finished it with some old shellac I had left. The shellac was too old, no good, made a mess. I wiped it off with alchol and that left a very thin coat. I have never done anything else to it. Looks good and she is happy with it. After all, it was treated wood.
Looks good and she is happy with it. ..
Next spring... I'd tell her it was the 'BUGS' that ruined the finish...
Will-
She knows what happened, she helped me with the finish. We hadn't been married very long then. . . it is about three years old now and still looks O.K. It would have been alright if I hadn't finished it at all. That gal is OK in my book.
First, all finishes manufactured since the mid 1970's are required to be non-toxic when cured.
That said, nothing will protect a wooden item that is left out uncovered exposed to the elements. All us boaters wish there was. All clear finish deteriorate fairly quickly. Marine finishes are designed to be lightly sanded annually and a new coat applied. This is how boats stay nice looking. But, be sure to use a real marine finish from a marine coatings manufacturer. You will not be able to get it at one of the big boxes. Go to a marina or marine supplier.
The best protection is to either invest in a cover or put it under cover when it's not being used.
Thanks for the ideas. Living in MN (Land of 10,000 Lakes), I should be able to find a marine supplier fairly easily.
If I plan to cover or store the table when not in use, should I still use a marine finish? Someone said shellac is great but in the same post said it's not very waterproof... that doesn't sound good for ANYTHING outside, covered or not...
>> Someone said shellac is great but in the same post said it's not very waterproof.
There is nothing wrong with the statement when referring to an indoor finish. But, it is no good in a wet or moist enviroment. Shellac rapidly deteriorates in an exterior application. In addition, it's not as durable as you would probably want for a picnic table.
Go with a marine exterior varnish, keep it covered as much as possilbe, repair any dings as soon as you can and it should last for 5-6 years. Howie.........
(Land of 10,000 Lakes).. I went fishing there and there is a LEAST 10,200!
I posted the suggestion of using shellac. I was supervising a contract which called for the contractor to supply two benches for shower rooms. When the contractor was ready for the benches, he came to me and asked what I wanted. (How did he bid the job if he didn't know how much he was going to spend on the benches? Probably just threw in some money for that.) We looked at locker room benches in catalogs. They just about all looked alike and this contractor had used some of those on a previous job. He said they were easy to tip over. Not a good thing where we were using them. I told him if he would supply the material, I would build the benches and he could finish them. He liked that plan since his usual cabinet maker was covered up in work and this would take some original thought anyway. By the way, his cabinet maker supplied some very nice work on more usual type of products. He bought rough ceder 2X4's at Home Depot probably intended for fencing and I made the benches very solid with through tennons for the legs which were only one 2X4 narrower than the seats. Got a lot of complements on them. Laminated them with stainless steel acorn nuts, washers and all thread through the seats besides gluing the 2X4's. Put levelers under the legs. The foreman's wife wanted some for her yard. He told he they couldn't afford them!. All together it probably cost the contractor less that the manufactured ones because there was no labor cost to him on the construction, just materials the finishing. Which brings us back to your question. I read somewhere that oil base finishes would not harden on ceder because of something in the ceder. Contractor didn't take my word on that. He checked with his paint supplier and, son-of-a-gun, supplier told him the same thing. Paint vendor told him to use shellac. I suppose the safest thing for you to do is to contact the finish manufacturer of your choice and verify whether it will work on ceder. Maybe water based finishes will work.
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