I’ve worked with Cedar of Lebanon in the past and while it isn’t my favorite wood I had a special purpose for this blank so I went ahead and worked with Cedar of Lebanon one more time.
I’d bought a good sized blank of Cedar of Lebanon while it was still green and waxed and set it aside to dry. In that drying process, it developed a huge through and through check in the more or less center of the blank. My first impulse was to put it into Green Waste for recycling but then I got to thinking that this might be the perfect excuse to try the Inlace product.
You can read all about Inlace by following the link above but basically Inlace is a two-part epoxy that comes in several colors and clear to which you can add additives like crushed stone or metal powders. Inlace in designed to be used in purpose created tracks for highlights but it is also useful for filling natural voids and rescuing otherwise waste wood. I’ve seen it in catalogs but I’d never tried it.
Cedar of Lebanon Platter with Inlace Front
My first thought was to turn the blank down so that I only needed to use a minimal amount of Inlace but then I got to thinking that the blank might not be very stable with such a large check so I filled the check from both sides, and in some places the gap was so large that the Inlace just poured in and down to the other side, so that the epoxy itself would act as a stabilizer to better hold the blank together during the turning process.
The Inlace dried for 24 hours and then I turned the back. There were still some gaps so I refilled and let dry again for 24 hours. This time the back was fine and it was time to finish the piece. I’ve not yet found a finish that goes on nicely with Cedar of any type and this was no exception. On the advice of my Dad, I sealed the reverse with a coat of shellac, waiting an hour, sanded that down, and reapplied. After another hour I used fine steel wool to degloss and unstreak the shellac. It didn’t look too bad.
I essentially repeated the steps on the front but didn’t feel that the shellac really went on as smooth as I would have liked despite steel wool.
Cedar of Lebanon with Inlace Reverse
The finished platter measures 12″ wide by about 1.5″ tall.
I’m still not impressed with Cedar of Lebanon but I am pleased with the way that the Inlace worked out. While it smells awful during the entire process, it does what it is advertised to do. As far as an experiment goes, I think this was a success! I recommend Inlace to wood turners who want to add some interesting color to their pieces.
All cuts were made using the Easy Wood Tool system on my Robust American Beauty lathe. Forward chucking was in a Nova Chuck, while reverse chucking was done using a Easy Wood Tools Easy Chuck with Big Easy Jaws and Extension. Sanding was with Gold and Green Wave sanding discs from Packard Woodworks.
As always, I wish all my readers a great experience in whatever your wood working interests happen to be and to those who like working with lathes especially, do a good turn today!