[OP]
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I plan to make a blanket chest out of cypress. Thoughts on finishes? My intentions are to line the chest with cedar that came down after the last hurricane and has been waiting on re-sawing. Exterior ideas for the cypress? My usual stuff is BLO and shellac. Would this work?
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i use oil sealer + shellac on windows i build from cypress if the insides are to be stain rather than paint.
the tree has a natural watery sap. it's not an issue as long as the boards are dry, but i've seen it cause oil paint adhesion issues from time to time. that said, the solution to that is an oil sealer of some sort (like your BLO idea). so yes, using the blo then whatever else after should work fine.
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I used an oil based finish for an exterior cypress project and it took weeks for the finish to dry to the touch...Originally Posted by Neal Clayton
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Cypress can be the source of finish drying problems with oil or oil based finishes. I would avoid using BLO or any other oil or oil based finish. If you want to use an oil based finish, first apply a coat of shellac to act as a barrier between the cypress and the oil based finish. If oil based poly or waterborne finish is your plan, use a dewaxed shellac.
Howie.........
Member
i've been using leftover waterlox as a sealer on cypress before oil paint and haven't had any problems. can't use shellac on anything outdoors, so it had to be an oil sealer for the windows i've built out of it.
that said, a penetrating oil that you try to build up, yeah, i can see where that would struggle to dry, the boards just won't absorb that much.
a single thin coat to darken the grain, i don't think will cause much issue. at least it hasn't for me.
Last edited by Neal Clayton; 10-25-2010 at 12:13 PM.
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I recently made a small shower stool from cypress. Because it's going to be in a wet and humid environment, I started with two coats of General Finishes Outdoor Oil. After 3 days, I starting applying three coats of General Finishes water-based Satin Exterior 450 Varnish. Everything went on well and so far the finish is holding up great.
-Mike
Contributor
Although I am a big fan of oil finishes for furniture, I found oil turned cypress quite dark on a wall unit I made. I was using recycled cypress from recovered logs, so that may have been a factor. I ended up spraying conventional lacquer, which left the cypress with a warm color. This obviously would nto be appropriate for exterior use.
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I don't want to derail or hijack Keith's thread here, but, since we are talking about finishing cypress. I am making some garage doors from cypress by recommendation of the guys at the lumber yard. What is the best way to get paint on these things? Do I go straight to an oil based primer?
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the general rule of thumb that's always been used for exterior softwoods for doors/windows is a coat of 50/50 blo/turp first will give the primer something to 'bite' to (plus the turp will kill off any bugs/fungus, more of an issue in the old days before kiln drying), so that's what i've always done. using any oil based finish in place of the blo/turp that i need to get rid of, including straight penetrol if that's what i have laying around.
as eric mentioned, there can be issues depending on the boards. the above thread details a cypress primer failure and a sherwin williams rep's response to it. i think some of it is these new 'low VOC' primers too. as mentioned in that thread i had no problem with the old A100 primer, nor did the guy who had the issue with the new primer that they now sell in place of A100 in the areas that require 'low VOC'.
either way, that's how the old timers did it so that's how i do it...1 coat of something resembling an oil varnish, then oil primer, then paint.
you don't wanna use a water based primer, the longevity of paint over oil primers outside is well documented. so it's just a matter of doing your best to make the oil primer work.
Last edited by Neal Clayton; 10-26-2010 at 11:42 AM.
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BLO is distinctly not a good choice for exterior wood, at least if there is any shade around. The Forest Products Laboratory reports that mildew seems to thrive on it.
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Found this thread while spelunking the archives. Just in case anyone comes looking, I used a Cabot product called Problem Solver Primer (Cabot # 8111) that is specifically designed for woods prone to extractive bleeding (cypress, cedar etc.). They have acrylic version but everything I've read indicates that the Alkyd is a better choice.
Late post, but it might save somebody some time...
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IMHO, oil makes cypress look muddy. Not all woods look good with oil.
If you want to finish the interior, I would only use shellac.
I think either shellac or lacquer are good bets for the exterior.
Member
can't use shellac on anything outside, not even as a sealer. sun will melt it very quickly (as in minutes, leave flakes in the sun and you'll soon have a puddle
on the inside of a window, yes it will work, the glass will block enough of the sunlight to stop it from melting, but direct sun exposure and shellac doesn't mix.
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