Milled some cedar today

[parrisw]

Finally got a chance to mill some decent Cedar today. Used a 394xp husky, with 36" Alaskan mill, chain was Oregon LGX Skip ground to 10deg, and a 345-E for trimming and knot cutting.

Now this is my first real try at making lumber, I've only milled a couple times before and just slabbed it. I wanted to make some lumber that was of higher quality for funiture making.

Here are some pics.

Enjoy.

first log

 

[parrisw]

second log

 

[parrisw]

 

[RPM]

Did you salvage the log from the beach? I used to live in Victoria and was able to salvage lots great 'driftwood'. Use to mill right on the beach below Beacon Hill park along Dallas rd.

Nice looking cedar!

 

[parrisw]

Did you salvage the log from the beach? I used to live in Victoria and was able to salvage lots great 'driftwood'. Use to mill right on the beach below Beacon Hill park along Dallas rd.

Nice looking cedar!

Hey good to hear from a local. No not this stuff, although last year I got a huge chunk of Yellow Cedar from Dallas RD, I grew up 2 blocks from Dallas, now I work 1 block from there.

This wood I got from a friends property on Maine Island this week.

 

[dustytools]

Beautiful Cedar lumber!! What type of furniture will you be making from it? What did you do differently from the slabbing method?

 

[parrisw]

Beautiful Cedar lumber!! What type of furniture will you be making from it? What did you do differently from the slabbing method?

Hopefully outdoor furniture. like a adirondack chair, muskoka chair, bench maybe? stuff like that. I tried to mill the lumber so I would get straight grain, like 1/4 sawing, some of it came out good, some wasn't able to do it, since the size of the log wasn't able to do it. I have another cedar log to do and its about 30" dia so that one will be nice. I want the grain to be vertical, that way the wood is more stable and less likely to warp and check.

 

[Zodiac45]

Nice stuff Parris,

Love cedar. Even when it's dry it mills easily. Nice and light and makes the best outdoor stuff. I made a potting table/bench for the greenhouse out of my last cedar. I need a bit more too do a couple adirondack's with leg hassocks.

 

[parrisw]

Nice stuff Parris,

Love cedar. Even when it's dry it mills easily. Nice and light and makes the best outdoor stuff. I made a potting table/bench for the greenhouse out of my last cedar. I need a bit more too do a couple adirondack's with leg hassocks.

Thanks, yes I like working with cedar. Makes nice outdoor funiture. And lasts a long time.

 

[BobL]

Good work Parris, some good looking boards there cedar is relatively rare here so I'm dead jealous of you being able to mill that sort of stuff.

 

[Backwood]

nice stack of wood. I am guessing you used the ladder for the first cut, How did you attach- fasten it to the log ? I have been using a short board for my chainsawmill but I have some long logs to do and was thinking about using my ladder. I could drill holes in the rungs but dont want to mess it up , thought about screwing some metal straps over the rungs?

 

[woodshop]

Nice job there... looks like eastern white cedar, no? Also called Atlantic cedar here. Yeah looks like many of them boards are pretty strait grained, quartersawn, so yes the wood will be more stable over time. Havn't had many problems with that though when working with either white or redcedar. They are pretty stable once dry regardless of how they're sliced. The strait grain sometimes looks better though, especially on outdoor furniture like Adirondack stuff. Great job, thanks for posting the pics.

 

[parrisw]

nice stack of wood. I am guessing you used the ladder for the first cut, How did you attach- fasten it to the log ? I have been using a short board for my chainsawmill but I have some long logs to do and was thinking about using my ladder. I could drill holes in the rungs but dont want to mess it up , thought about screwing some metal straps over the rungs?

Yes I used a ladder, at the end of the log, I screw a 2x2 then the ladder rests on those, then I just use a block of wood over the inside of the c-channel piece on the ladder and screw it down, so it just clamps down on the ladder, do drilling required in the ladder.

 

[parrisw]

Nice job there... looks like eastern white cedar, no? Also called Atlantic cedar here. Yeah looks like many of them boards are pretty strait grained, quartersawn, so yes the wood will be more stable over time. Havn't had many problems with that though when working with either white or redcedar. They are pretty stable once dry regardless of how they're sliced. The strait grain sometimes looks better though, especially on outdoor furniture like Adirondack stuff. Great job, thanks for posting the pics.

Honestly, I thought most stuff around here was Red Cedar?? I've milled yellow Cedar before, it could be white Cedar, I'm on the West coast. Honestly I'm a rookie when it comes to Tree ID. Your welcome for the pics. I really enjoy sharing with you guys, as much as I like doing the work.

 

[Nikko]

that's good ole Western Red - nice job!

You need to head out to North Saanich and see if you can get some Garry oak off one of the farms out there..

Nikko (former Victoria boy)

 

[parrisw]

that's good ole Western Red - nice job!

You need to head out to North Saanich and see if you can get some Garry oak off one of the farms out there..

Nikko (former Victoria boy)

Ya, I thought it was red cedar, I guess I just got confused. Not too hard.

I know where there is a big Gary Oak down about 5 mins from my house, been sitting there for about 1 year now.

 

[Zodiac45]

nice stack of wood. I am guessing you used the ladder for the first cut, How did you attach- fasten it to the log ? I have been using a short board for my chainsawmill but I have some long logs to do and was thinking about using my ladder. I could drill holes in the rungs but dont want to mess it up , thought about screwing some metal straps over the rungs?

Try a simple deal like this. Easy too make and use.

 

[parrisw]

Try a simple deal like this. Easy too make and use.

Great idea!

 

[woodshop]

Ya, I thought it was red cedar, I guess I just got confused. Not too hard.

I know where there is a big Gary Oak down about 5 mins from my house, been sitting there for about 1 year now.

For what it's worth, Western red cedar and Eastern Redcedar are two different animals. Eastern redcedar is bright pink (when first cut) and has that familiar cedar closet smell. Western redcedar also has a cedar smell, but it is less pronounced, and I am told, more of a cinnamon smell than the eastern. Eastern redcedar is also harder wood than western.

 

[Backwoods]

Nice job on the red cedar.

The Portorford / Incense cedar are the strong smelling cedars out here. However, dry western red cedar has those fine dust particles that fill the air when milling.

I can still smell the red cedar that I milled up into ¾” board and bat siding yesterday.