Carpentry and Woodworking - Staining Cedar?

I am attaching 3.5" wide Cedar planks (T&G) on a new bar I'm building. The color is a bit lighter then I had hoped. Does anyone have any suggestions/ experiance staining Cedar to just bring out more of the grain, or lightly darken?

Take a scrap piece of the cedar, and brush some oil on it - tung, linseed or similar oil. If you don't have any oil to try, wipe some mineral spirits on it. Of coarse mineral spirits wouldn't be a permanent finish, but will give you an idea of the darkness brushing oil on it will bring.

It will darken up the wood when applied, and may be dark enough for your taste. It will also bring out the grain. You may want to try this before you stain.

Post back when you've tried this and let us know how it goes!

try putting "natural" color oil stain on a scrap and see what you think. It would do about the same thing as the tung oil that was mentioned. Or you could try a coat of lacquer and see what you think.