Cedar, deck stain, and the controversies of outdoor woodworking

This is definitely not the time of year to be talking about or working on outdoor projects. Even here in the "warm" part of Canada it's freaking cold. And by that I mean it has been consistently around -1 celsius for at least seven days in a row. This is no time to be thinking about your patio. But I started this project last November and I just finished it the first week of January.

 I had been putting it off for a while but the short version of the story is this. We have tons of summer and spring type items and nowhere to put them where we can access them in short order without moving boxes, camping gear, and a bunch of other things first. I'm mostly talking about summer toys (balls, frisbees, kid pools, etc) as well as gardening stuff. These are things that we would like to access when we need them, but we just don't have the space in our small family home. I got the idea last year to build an outdoor box that would house all the items and look nice on our front porch.

 I actually found a great plan from the plansnow.com website and purchased it. I think it was in Wood magazine or something like that. Little did I know that I was signing myself up for a load of woodworking controversy.

 Outdoor projects of all types are an anomaly in woodworking. It's something almost all of us need to tackle from time to time but it's almost taboo to talk about it unless you are doing something artistic or outlandish, like a bird house in a weird shape made from recycled wood that you donated to a local club or something like that. Aside form that, outdoor projects tend to live on the wrong side of the woodworking tracks. They are made of softwood. They use butt joints, wood screws, polyurethane glues, and are generally painted or "stained." Truly no woodworker worth his salt engages in this sort of activity.

Controversy Number 1 - the species of wood
The plans that I purchased recommend using Douglas Fir for the outdoor bench/chest. The reasoning by the author of the plan was that Douglas Fir is very strong and looks nice. That is true. My workbench is made of Doug Fir. But it's inside. As far as I know it is not resilient outside. So I made the decision of using Western Red Cedar instead. Why? Cedar is rot, mildew and insect resistant. It tends to do well outdoors even without any protection. And unlike Cypress, White Oak, Teak or Mahogany, I can afford Cedar because it is readily available in BC where I live.

So Cedar it was.

That in itself was a controversy. I was given lots of advice not to use it. "Cedar dust is toxic." "Cedar is hard to work." "Cedar is never straight." "Cedar dents easily." "Cedar doesn't finish well."

Nice clear cedar - looks pretty good but dents easily.

Well I went with it anyway. Am I disappointed?

No, the cedar looked great and smells awesome. I have to say that it is likely the most soft wood I have ever worked with in my life however. At least the stuff I bought was. It dented at the slightest touch. I had to be really careful about not bumping things into it or putting it down to hard on my workbench. I hope, however, that the decision to use a wood that fares well outdoor will make my project last longer.




Controversy Number 2 - the finish
How to finish an outdoor project is mind boggling enough. Everyone has their own opinion and none of it seems to be based on fact. Some people say oil is the best. Either teak oil, danish oil, tung oil, linseed oil, or variations of these. Oh yeah, those are the best. Others will say the opposite. Oils are horrible, they ruin the wood and clog its pores. They will not protect it. Use something durable like a spar varnish or a marine finish for boats. Still others will say forget finishes - those never work. Don't use anything that produces any kind of film or sheen. Use a paint or a solid stain.

Of course, the fact that I was using cedar made it even more troubling. How do you finish an outdoor project made of cedar? Well all the above arguments were mentioned again, only this time there were many proponents of just leaving the cedar alone. Don't even finish it - it will do fine outdoors because cedar doesn't rot. It doesn't need a finish. I really didn't know what to do because I have never finished anything for outdoor purposes before. I am a fan of oil I have to say - oil, shellac and wax are my favourite finishes by far. Yet I know that they probably wouldn't work outdoors. So I caved and got some deck stain.

Ok so here was my next big question. What the heck is deck stain? I'm used to having "stain" mean something that colours wood. How come you can buy "clear" deck stain?? That makes no sense. Well it turns outs that deck stain is actually not a "stain." It's actually more like a paint. Like some sort of latex paint. And the clear form is not actually "clear" - it's a brownish colour. Go figure. Anyway, I put it on my project because almost everyone agreed that deck stain would preserve just about any outdoor furniture.

Yep.  Looks like paint.

So stain it was. I put it on with a brush just like paint.

The small block of wood is Western Red Cedar unfinished.
It is sitting on top of the "clear" finished cedar.

I have to say that it doesn't look bad, but it definitely doesn't look like cedar anymore. Or rather, it looks like the colour we generally think cedar looks like (overly reddish brown) but as my photos show, it does not actually look like cedar. Anyway - I'm happy the project is done and I hope it works well. I'm also hoping that in about two years when I have to re-coat this thing that I will have some better information regarding outdoor finishes - mostly hoping I'll find out whether or not deck stain is really all that it is cracked out to be.