Cedar Milling

[dallasm1]

I was catching up on my milling this weekend and decided to slice up a piece of cedar that has been laying around. I was very surprised to find this beautiful grain. I just had to share it with everyone!

A friend of mine called up and asked me to come and pick up some cedar that was getting in his way, so a half day and one very overworked trailer and I now have this pile of cedar....

 

[dustytools]

Very nice score on the Cedar!!

 

[polexie]

Nice pics, good job, got a nice pile of cedar right now. Gonna mill it all?
The coloring and grain came out very well, it will darken? You already know where you will use those slabs for?

Thanks for sharing,

Lex

 

[Ironbark]

That looks great. Wish we could smell it too

 

[dallasm1]

Nice pics, good job, got a nice pile of cedar right now. Gonna mill it all?
The coloring and grain came out very well, it will darken? You already know where you will use those slabs for?

Thanks for sharing,

Lex

I am not sure if it will darken or not. I do not have much experience with cedar except from the HD store. I do plan to mill it all. I have a large deck to build. This piece is just the butt of a 20 foot long tree. When I started to cut the cedar I was thinking of a cedar slab bench, with 4in thick uprights and long slabs for the seat and back. However, the grain is so beautiful I am not sure if I want to use on outdoor furniture. Any ideas?

 

[dallasm1]

That looks great. Wish we could smell it too

The old 084 threw cedar sawdust out at a prodigious rate. The smell is wonderful!

 

[KD57]

Nice cedar!! It smells so good, I burned some this weekend in the fire pit.

 

[BobL]

Nice pics showing nice wood, I can almost smell it from here!

 

[SilverBox]

Thats some good looking cedar, I hope the few logs I have downed now that I'm going to mill into siding turn out just as well.

 

[Zodiac45]

Beautiful stuff! You can take all your top bottom and side slabs buck em up and crack them into the best kindling in the world too. I use it every morning in the cookstove.

 

[Brownpot Deaton]

beautiful grain contours!! down here, it seems all the cedar i've enoucntered is just full of knots and has a very distinct purple color with some red in it....put the smell is awesome....

we make very fancy "cedar chest" down here and sell them for about 400-500 dollars each, but we have a very serious woodworking shop...just an idea for what you can make thats usefull...keeps bugs out and clothes smelling good...

 

[dallasm1]

beautiful grain contours!! down here, it seems all the cedar i've enoucntered is just full of knots and has a very distinct purple color with some red in it....put the smell is awesome....

we make very fancy "cedar chest" down here and sell them for about 400-500 dollars each, but we have a very serious woodworking shop...just an idea for what you can make thats usefull...keeps bugs out and clothes smelling good...

I was looking at these slabs again today. I did think of a chest or shoe cabinet of some type. Would you use the slabs complete or cut them into smaller width planks? The slabs are a solid 24 to 30 inches and I am afraid they might want to warp. The complete grain is beautiful so I would hate to cut it. By the way, the cedar we get up here is knotty when the trees are 12 in thick or less, but I always thought the knots looked great.

 

[excess650]

The slabs cut closest to the center of the log will be "quarter sawn, or nearly so, and the most stable.

My wife has a large cherry, dropleaf table that her Great Grandfather made, and the boards are very wide. I have seen some other very old tables made with boards up to 24" wide. Knowing that most lumber these days is cut to dimensional 12" or less, these really wide boards are truly impressive to me.

That cedar sure looks nice.

 

[Brownpot Deaton]

for our cedar chests, we cut them about 10" wide, slot the sides and then glue them together to create larger slabs (about 30" wide) for the sides, bottom, and lid, but as i said, that grain you have is sooo nice id try everything i could to use the whole slab.

 

[DRB]

I think you will find cedar slabs like those very stable. I have milled a far bit of western red cedar and it is very stable. It does not seem to crack or check if it is nice and clear like you have there. I have a lot of clear cedar slabs that I don't now what to do with. I have always thought they wood make beautiful window frames.

Nice pile of cedar logs you got there. I would cut those into 1x8 and use it for board and batten siding. That way it will dry down to 7/8" thick.

 

[dallasm1]

I think you will find cedar slabs like those very stable. I have milled a far bit of western red cedar and it is very stable. It does not seem to crack or check if it is nice and clear like you have there. I have a lot of clear cedar slabs that I don't now what to do with. I have always thought they wood make beautiful window frames.

Nice pile of cedar logs you got there. I would cut those into 1x8 and use it for board and batten siding. That way it will dry down to 7/8" thick.

Unfortunately I do not think that the 084/alaskan combination is good for cutting 1 by's as I lose about half an inch per pass... However, it is good incentive to start looking at a bandsaw mill ..... It is good to hear that the wood is stable. I have seen a door made from these wide slabs that has been carved by a traditional Haida carver, a truly awesome piece, even when it is weathered, it maintains an incredible beauty. How are you milling the cedar that you have?

 

[Backwoods]

I mill a lot of cedar into ½” boards for interior siding. Wood from the cedar family is stable enough to mill into the thinner dimensions with out having problems during the drying process. It seems that if I am not cutting cedar thin I am cutting it wide 20”-24” for planter boxes, doors, gates benches any place where someone wants to make a statement.

 

[RPM]

I have a lot of clear cedar slabs that I don't now what to do with.

Let me help you out with those ..... like into my shop.

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

Nice stuff!

 

[BobL]

Nice stuff!

Yo! AWB - you're still here! Any milling happening in your neck of the woods?