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yellow cedar dillema

sardocs

New Member
Last year I built a sign, (not my logo design or lettering choice) for a local resort using red and yellow cedar. We used Cetol Marine and Cetol Marine Gloss topcoat clear by Sikkens for the finish. I have lots of signs in the area using this product and it holds up for years. The resort owner wanted the contrast between the red cedar and the yellow to be as strong as possible. After consulting with him we used the base coat and topcoat on the red cedar portion of the sign and only the clear topcoat on the yellow. I mentioned that the topcoat clear doesn't contain much if any UV protection and that silvering was going to occur down the road. He still wanted to use a clear finish that wouldn't tint the natural colour of the yellow cedar. Now, one year later, he calls saying mold is eating the yellow portion of the sign. I took a look and I'm not sure if it's mold or if it's natural silvering from sunlight. He thinks the wood was to moist before finishing, but that wood was stored indoors for eight years so I know it was dry. I will refinish that portion this summer onsite, but he wants the same finish applied. I think he needs to put the UV base coat on there first but he still wants to keep the light colour. My question is does anybody have any suggestions as to a product we can put on the yellow cedar to keep it yellow. Are there any proven exterior wood finishes that are clear like water, not clear like beer?
 

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Gino

Premium Subscriber
Looks like the sign wasn't sealed properly before applying the top coat. What's on the backside ??

Looks as if moisture was either trapped in there and/or the top coat wasn't heavy enough. How many coats did you use ??

When clearing natural wood..... you almost always have to seal it or this kinda thing will happen. Just looks like tannins are migrating to the surface and cedars and redwoods have a lot of tannin in them.

Clearing a wooden surface only puts it on the top surface, allowing all kinds of things to happen right below the surface and on lighter woods like this, you can generally see the results, while true sealer penetrates deep into the wood to prevent this sorta thing from happening.
 

sardocs

New Member
The sign is double sided and it's happening on both sides. One side gets the morning sun and the other side basks in the afternoon. It might be mildew, but I put at least 3 coats of gloss on it, thinning the first coat a bit for penetration. Up close it looks like a coating of epoxy that those clocks hobby people make. I know I'm going to refinish it, even though I warned them about this potential problem. I just wondered if there was a finish I could use on the yellow cedar that would protect it and preserve it's natural light colour. Does West System Epoxy clear have a UV stabilizer in it?
 
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