I ran into a color issue with cedar as well. I have not seen it mentioned, so I am interested in other's experience.

First, let me tell you that I used Handy Man "Inland Red Cedar" with a fair number of knots. By cutting the strips at the large knots, it was not too hard to lay up my boat.

The color of the cedar was an outstanding and wonderful red with white contrasts right after wetting it with the epoxy and for a day or two. But the color changed to a yellower hue several days after curing. The whites are still white, but the red of the cedar seems to have lost a good deal of it's red.

Is this common? Could it be because of the "oil" in the cedar mentioned above? Could it be the less expensive epoxy I used?

Link to my Kayak building pages below.

: I'm just finishing up a hybrid with an Eastern Red Cedar (closet cedar) deck.
: It came out really nice, and I was able to do some interesting bookmatched
: designs with it. Everytime I sanded the wood, the color went from brownish
: to a really great looking reddish purple. I was hoping that by sanding it
: just before I applied the epoxy, the red color would remain. But it turned
: back to the brownish color again, though not as bad. Does anyone know of a
: way to retain the red color of the wood? I have enough wood left for
: another kayak and I would like to keep the red color if I can. Thanks, Pam