I dug up a mystery "cedar" stump a while back and have been using the wood for small projects as I tinker in the shop. I don't know what kind of cedar it is, but it's very purple and clear of knots and resin pockets. It is extremely dry though. Sanding produces a very fine dust that gets everywhere.
I cobbled together a letter opener of some maple I had sitting around and a chunk of this stuff (the "blade" and "pommel" are maple and the handle is the cedar), and I applied some Formby's Tung Oil Finish to it as a finish. After 7 or 8 coats, I'm finally to the point where the finish has stopped soaking into the cedar and is starting to get glossy.
I do some research on rec.woodworking today and find that tung oil isn't recommended as a finish for cedar due to the oils reacting. I then find out that Formby's isn't really tung oil, but a wiping varnish. My question now is, this:
Is the finish I put on the cedar going to go funky in a few months? If it is, or even is there is a better than 2/5 chance that it will, can I put anything on it like shellac or a polyurethane finish?
The Formby's site really wasn't very helpful, which is why I'm here.
Thanks, Nathan