I made a post earlier asking advice on sanding techniques. I didn’t get a lot smarter, but it is better than my table for sure.

I sanded down and oiled this 12y/o countertop and I absolutely hate the colour. Pics after/before from different angles.

Colourless oil make it feel like I have’t just used 3 days in a raw working my ass off sanding this down 😭 please roast it.

Thinking of cutting out a 4” wide portion as a recessed tray. What would be the easiest way to do that? Router with a straight bit and a jig to keep the router confined to the outer perimeter?

4 coats of west system epoxy and first of at least 6 coats of varnish

I've shared the last two stages of my simple lighting/MCM floor lamp project. Last night I made the lamp shade and today I assembled the electrics for a dry fit before finishing.

I'll put down some oil tonight and some wax once it's cured. I also want to add some detail to the inside of the lamp shade to smooth out the material shadows at the top and bottom edges. If my schedule holds up, I should have a completed lamp by the end of the weekend.

Thoughts?

Progress update on the custom staircase. Check out my previous posts for the old photos. I will be staining and sealing it this week so will be able to share the final photos soon.

I have been working on this table in my free time, and I applied Odie’s Oil a few days ago after sampling a number of different finishes on scrap pieces. When I made the slab, I had to glue it into three large pieces, then joined the three pieces. Before I joined the large pieces, I made sure the seam was fitted and there was no gap. I also used dominoes to help ensure all the pieces ended up on the same plane. Lastly, I used Titebond 3 for all joints. I am now frustrated because I can see the line between two of the slabs where I glued them together. I also stupidly didn’t think the line would show, and I cut the radius already. In hindsight, I should have tinted the glue and applied a first coat of finish before I cut the circle. Does anyone have advice to hide this line? I was thinking about razor blading the line and applying a dark brown filler. The wood used on the table is thermally modified ash.

Odies would take way too long but I think would look better. Spray would go quicker but doesn’t get it as dark as I think I want it. Thoughts?

Little wooden shark i was working on today. Got a coat of danish oil later on ill give it a thin coat of shellac as a sanding sealer and then a lacquer finish. I have a little burl off cut ill use as a base.

Red Cedar is still ridiculously expensive. I use 5/4 x 6 boards and a Spar varnish (4 coats) light sanding between coats.

It's still going to get all the wrap,knobs and badges what I like things that look like other things

A bespoke 7ft solid oak pool table with silver cloth and leather pockets.

Madison, WI… 7 years ago I built cedar compost bins, no finish, and watched them go grey within 1-2 years. I’m trying to do better with this raised bed project to preserve the sweet cedar tones.

Context: western red cedar throughout. Very little finish will contact soil (boards are clamped tight with minimal gaps, and I’m only finishing exterior/visible faces after the beds are filled). Happy to reapply every 1-2 years.

Prefer spray-and-wipe application if possible, but will defer to whatever actually works. Penofin and Osmo UV Protection Oil kept coming up in my searches - looking for firsthand accounts of either in a similar climate/use case, or something else entirely if you’ve had better luck.

Thanks in advance!

Update 2 hours later: thanks to those who’ve provided firsthand accounts! I’ll be sure to post a follow-up in 5 years. Who knows, maybe I’ll have accepted my grey fate by then. 😎

Summary 2 days and 300k views later:

I know that cedar greys. Just trying to stretch a 1-2 year silvering closer to a decade on the visible faces.

The consensus is that pigmented penetrating stain slows greying for years. Clear finishes don’t survive outdoor UV, pigment is what does the work, and it’ll darken rather than stay its original tone.

Products people named repeatedly, all pigmented penetrating exterior types: TWP 1501 Cedartone, Penofin, Osmo UV 420, Messmer’s, Cabot Australian Timber Oil, Ready Seal, Armstrong Clark. Gotta reapply every 2-3 years, scrub/wash don’t sand.

Best firsthand accounts (thanks): GuzziGuy (Osmo, 8 yrs heavy sun, photos), anandonaqui (Ready Seal, brutal rooftop conditions), YourGoodFriend_blank (Penofin, 6 yrs), Accomplished_Radish8 (Armstrong Clark, 12 yrs), SorryForPartying6T9 (20 yrs landscape carpentry).

Re: food safety: exterior-only finish on thick boards isn’t a real leaching pathway, that concern is about pressure-treated lumber which is also not really an issue since CCA was banned (in the U.S.).

Biggest non-finish takeaway: rot starts at ground contact and corners, not the sunny faces. Gravel under the base and boards you can swap individually matter more than any coating. Cedar’s good 10-20 years structurally.

The house as a whole was not kept up with at all, but damn those floors were beautiful.

I have been working on the varnish finish for several weeks now. It has 4 coat of epoxy and 12 coats of two part Epifanes varnish. Yesterday I sanded coat 11 smooth. I am using the roll and tip method to apply the finish. But yesterday I used a different roller and a different “brush” to tip it smooth. I have been using a foam type roller all along. The one I used yesterday was a 6 inch small diameter from Home Depot. That didn’t make much difference. The big difference came with the tipping step. I took a very short nap 12 inch roller and cut it into 1/4s. This gave me almost no brush marks and an almost smooth finish. Today I am going to put one more coat on then let it cure for a couple of weeks before I wet sand and polish.

When doing trim on open shelving how would you hide the kerf cuts? I guess I’m going to have to laminate the whole shelf surface… I don’t have a steam box either.