Finishing Red Cedar Turning

[Mike Minto]

Any advice on good ways to finish Eastern Red Cedar? I have a small vase I turned and put shellac on - yuck! I'll have to sand it and pretend I meant to use it as a sealer. I'd like to bring out the grain pattern as well as the red/yellow colors. Any prep needed such as acetone prior to finishing? TIA. Mike

[Brian Tax]

I built a Cedar chest a couple of years ago and used General Finishes High Performance Polyurethane Top Coat, it looks good, but being a top it was not something that remarkably brought our the grain or color. I did not have to do any surface prep other that sanding.