Best way to treat a cedar cabinet

[irun5k]

Hello,

We have a new hot tub that came with a nice cedar enclosure.  It was delivered with what was described as a "light stain."  Anyway, the color looks great and I don't have any desire to change it.

Most advice online says to "seal it" anywhere from 4 times a year to once every 2 years or more.  What does "seal it" mean in terms of what I should buy at the hardware or paint store?  Is polyurethane a sealer?  Or by sealer, do they mean something else?  The spa installers said I could use Thompson's but even they have dozens of products and I've heard mixed reviews.  Others have said teak or linseed oil but then others say those will discolor.

I use a marine grade polyurethane on a small heart pine porch that we have.  Honestly if don't need to use a product like that I'd be happy since every year or so it is a process too much like painting and all the work and negative effects that come as the polyurethane builds up over repeated coatings (lots of sanding/scraping, and then over time it can flake off when it fails, etc.)

Help!?!?  Wood can be ruined with one application of the wrong product.   I really just want it to keep looking nice and don't mind doing something once a year or even twice a year.  Thank you!

[Isaac-1]

It would probably help if you can tell us where you are located, and what sort of environment the tub is in (exposed to full weather, sun, sheltered etc.)  I recently asked a similar question about restoring the wood on my 18 year old Hot Spring tub with real redwood cabinet.  I did not get much advice and ended up going with a product called Furniture Afterlife bought from Amazon which is a mix of oils, and seems to have greatly helped the dry look the wood had started to show without appreciably darkening it.  It did also enhance the look of the grain some, however I suspect I will need to reapply at least one more time as the wood quickly soaked up the oil.

p.s. I should mention that my tub is indoors in a non (semi) climate controlled location

[Tman122]

Hello,

We have a new hot tub that came with a nice cedar enclosure.  It was delivered with what was described as a "light stain."  Anyway, the color looks great and I don't have any desire to change it.

Most advice online says to "seal it" anywhere from 4 times a year to once every 2 years or more.  What does "seal it" mean in terms of what I should buy at the hardware or paint store?  Is polyurethane a sealer?  Or by sealer, do they mean something else?  The spa installers said I could use Thompson's but even they have dozens of products and I've heard mixed reviews.  Others have said teak or linseed oil but then others say those will discolor.

I use a marine grade polyurethane on a small heart pine porch that we have.  Honestly if don't need to use a product like that I'd be happy since every year or so it is a process too much like painting and all the work and negative effects that come as the polyurethane builds up over repeated coatings (lots of sanding/scraping, and then over time it can flake off when it fails, etc.)

Help!?!?  Wood can be ruined with one application of the wrong product.   I really just want it to keep looking nice and don't mind doing something once a year or even twice a year.  Thank you!

Tung Oil

[robbieesprit]

Do not seal it, oil it
I have a western red cedar greenhouse which is 50 years old, the uv has bleached some of the would but I buy stained oils from screwfix for decking which are cheap and seam to do a great job...and I have used the same oils on my tub, and looks fine....