My wife bought some Moroccan cedar indoor furniture from an importer. The chairs came stained a deep brown, almost like teak. The wood is deeply incised with oriental designs. And the wood still smells strongly of cedar, which we like.

The table came unfinished. How can I proceed to stain and finish it? An oil based or a water based stain? And, as a finishing, should I use an oil, or wax, or a (poly)urethane? We'd like to retain the smell of cedar.

Thanks.

 

Staining and/or sealing the wood will also seal in the cedar aroma. Leaving the bottom side of the table raw may help to retain some of the cedar smell.

It would be good to know how the chairs were finished, it would make it easier to duplicate it on the table. Latex versus oil base poly - oil base will deepen the color some over time [also dries to a harder finish], latex usually doesn't change the color of the wood much - just provides a finish.

 

Both the finished chairs and the unfinished table are "rustically" done. The wood of the chairs was not finely sanded and polished -- it's rugged work, and incised with "oriental"-style geometric designs. As for overlying finish, I don't know whether it is a shellac, or a urethane.

The table has, top and sides, lattice-work of turned wooden spindles, which were not finely finished before being formed into lattice-designs and attached to the table. Again, it's rough work. I have been carefully sanding the table surfaces with the grain, to prepare the surface for staining and remove scratches and flaws that would by highlighted by the stain. At this point, am thinking of using as the stain either Minwax Provincial 211 (oil-based) or Minwax Rosewood (water-based). Since I am inclined toward the using the wood-based stain, I have been using sandpaper for the preparation work; otherwise, I'd be using steel wool, too.

After the staining, if we still wanted to preserve the cedar scent, could I do something like add oil of cedar to a finishing oil or a wax, before applying? Or wouldn't that work?

Thanks for your advice. This board is a great resource. I only found it last weekend, while searching for information on wood finishing, but having found it, I've explored the other forums, too. I'll be a regular!

 

I don't know anything about 'oil of cedar' maybe someone else can answer that. IMO any finish that seals the wood also seals in the odor. Leaving the underside of the table unfinished may allow you to retain some of the cedar aroma.

 

Ain't it though! I believe it is the best site on the internet