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I plan to do my new cathedral ceiling in knotty pine:
https://www.loghomeshoppe.com/knotty-pine-paneling.html
This is the best price I've seen. I'm going for a lodge/tavern type look, the walls are done in red cedar, I'm building a bar later as well. Indirect LED tube lighting pointed up at the ceiling, with hidden fixtures. I figured pine would lighten the room up a bit. The stuff I'm getting is unfinished, I wonder should I leave it unfinished or do some sort of clear poly?
Either way works, but I would leave it unfinished. Why spend the time and $'s on something that will get no wear and will age beautifully on its own? I would just make sure to clean any dirty/greasy fingerprints off it (mineral spirits usually does the trick) when you install it and then leave it be.
John
Most of the houses I built here at the lake over the 33 years that I was building them have Yellow Pine cathedral ceilings. None have any finish on them including the one we've lived in since 1980. Any that I've seen in the decades later still look fine. I see no advantage to putting a finish on it if it's not going to have hands on it. To me, nothing looks better on Pine than age.
You guys confirmed just what I was thinking.
Much richer looking with a finish. If you like the pale, washed out look, leaving it unfinished is fine. I'd use inexpensive cabinet conversion varnish in a dull sheen.
Dan
Here's what some of the unfinished Yellow Pine in our house looks like. Might be washed out, but it suits us fine. I've sold houses for well over a million dollars with unfinished Pine ceilings, and everyone likes them.
I would just warn clients that it needs more than one light bulb.