Hand Planed Cedar holding up in Outdoors & rain

[C. in Indy]

Hi All,

Many of you already knew sadly that Chris Hall has passed on from cancer.  His wife still maintains the blog and has been posting some new & review materials.  I liked this latest one about an outdoor Japanese lantern quite a bit:

https://thecarpentryway.blog/2020/07/bla...sentation/

He talked about preferring a cleanly planed raw wood surface to a sanded & painted surface, even outdoors.  The 'unbruised' planed wood cells have an integrity that helps with durability.

I have to say, I'd made a few outdoor cedar (and/or redwood) utility items over the years, and the latest one is really attesting to an unpainted, smooth-planed surface.   This is just a half-step for my mother-in-law, and it took about 25 minutes to build the whole thing from dumpster-scrap wood.  It is none the worse for surface quality after 3 months of exposure!

   

Chris

[hbmcc]

<SNIP>

I have to say, I'd made a few outdoor cedar (and/or redwood) utility items over the years, and the latest one is really attesting to an unpainted, smooth-planed surface.   This is just a half-step for my mother-in-law, and it took about 25 minutes to build the whole thing from dumpster-scrap wood.  It is none the worse for surface quality after 3 months of exposure!

The vertical to rift grain of your wood will help with durability. Face grain splits and shakes enthusiastically, turning up deterioration. 
I read the blog posts of Hall's outdoor lantern adventures a couple years ago. I think a UV blocking oil stain will work better than any natural  or mechanical surface treatment. But, then, I have ambivalent thoughts about doing surface finish on fully exposed cedar.

[C. in Indy]

Good point!

This just reinforces my proclivity to look for QS or Riftsawn lumber.  I can't seem to get enough of it!

Chris

[hbmcc]

Good point!

This just reinforces my proclivity to look for QS or Riftsawn lumber.  I can't seem to get enough of it!

Chris

I started a smarty-pants blow-hog on outdoor wood and then wiped it away for the bit in my previous comment.  

It takes little effort to provide a valuable support for family or friend; and, something that can be easily adjusted and replaced when the first has worn out its usefulness. It's when the need expands to potentially thousands of dollars that care and attention to wood properties and environmental considerations grow more important. 

A Colorado cowboy will look at us like we are screwballs for fussing over how to throw down a porch, but wood weathers incredibly well in an environment with precipitation in the single digits. Down there, a dead bush next to the line can be used for a fence post and outlive the bobb'd wire strung to it. [Well, that's how it was 60 years ago.]

There is never a one-size fits all answer.