How do you all saw cedar?

[barbender]

I just drug my mill out of the weeds for the spring sawing season, and started out with some White Cedar. I think it's pretty much the same as the Red cedar a lot of you get into as far as sawing goes- lots of taper, bumpy, lots of center rot and defect in general. I'm trying to get the widest boards I can out of it, do you guys through saw and edge, or square up a cant (if that makes sense). I'm trying to get through this stuff without pulling my hair out :D

[DDW_OR]

following - i have A LOT of white cedar, 12 to 24 at the stump.
cut shorter logs, 6 to 8 foot to minimize taper.
I usually square.
got 5 on the main road that are over 36 inch at the stump.

[Ianab]

Widest boards would be recovered by sawing through and though to the deck, then sorting and edging the flitches later.

But that's likely more work. It's a trade off between the widest boards, and faster sawing.

[xlogger]

Once you get good at sawing cedar everything else is a dream. :D

[LeeB]

It varies from one log to the next and what I want out of it. A whole lot depends on the size and length. For logs with a lot of taper in a short length I'll usually just slab heavy and take narrow dimensional boards. I've had a need for 2 x 4's lately and the smaller logs with lots of taper usually give me a couple of 2x's. From a wider log with good length I'll take boards off the outside until I reach the best cant I can get out of it and then saw through and trim the jacket boards later ending up with some shorts and some narrow boards. Thickness depends on what I want from them. This is for myself. Sawing for the customer, which is something I rarely do anymore, is another story.

[barbender]

My operation, getting started. I started with the nicest logs, also known as "eating dessert first". Don't do that👎😊

Squared up, 1x10's coming off-



If they all sawed like that, no problem. But, then you get to this-

It 's starting to pile up still, but it's taken about 8 hours for 350 bf👎

[Magicman]

You can square the cant and saw through on good logs, but "rot in the center" calls for squaring the cant and continually taking side boards and ultimately leaving the center as waste.

[WDH]

I knew a logger that believed that you should always cut the best part of the stand first.  The dessert, in essence.  That way, not matter what happened, you were always sawing the best of what you had  . 

[Chop Shop]

How do you all saw cedar?

Very quickly.

A swing blade or MD is the tool for tapered or hollow logs.

[Cedarman]

Saw parallel to the out side of the hollow log.  If there is a lot of clear lumber, we saw 2" thick.  Clear 2" x 2" x 24" up to 32" is used for flute blanks.  Shorter lengths for fishing lures.

[thecfarm]

barbender,all my cedar looks like that.  : After about 8 feet,the rot clear up,but then I have a hard time getting a full 4x4. I needed some short cedar. I cut the rotted butts into 4 footers and sawed away. I got a lot of wood. I needed 1x1.

[moodnacreek]

On a old mill you slab turn up 180 dog underhook  and saw round edge boards down to 1"

[barbender]

I'm having the best luck sawing parallel to the bark, like you would saw grade hardwood. You can get a couple clear flitches that way, where if I saw through the taper I get one, or maybe none, before I get into defect. The hollow center isn't a big deal, it's small veins of rot that show up randomly, turning a beautiful 1x8 into a candidate for kindling >:( That stuff is always toward the center of the log, so sawing parallel to the bark keeps you away from the center and increases the yield a bit.

[barbender]

This is what makes me sad ;)

[Percy]

When the WRC we cut up here is rotten in the center all the way thru, like most replies here, I cut parellel to the bark. Almost every board has to go thru the edger unless you are real lucky. End up with a Washington monument left on the deck...Sell them to the blind fencebuilders  ;D ;D

[Cedarman]

We get a lot of boards from time to time that has the doughty streaks.  Years ago Arky suggested pressure washing the doughty out, letting dry, spraying the pockets with black paint and then plane.  Making a cedar board with black streaks and splotches.  Calling it pecky cedar similar to pecky cypress.

[Brucer]

I'm another fan of sawing parallel to the bark with Western Red Cedar that has butt rot. I've often sawn full length boards where sawing parallel to the pith would have wasted half the board.

With WRC there's no way of predicting where the rot will go, so I always have a "Plan B", plus "C", "D", & "E".

;D

[barbender]

Cedarman- I can see with cedar, if you want to make money with it, you need to be a marketing genius ;) I may just try that "pecky cedar" technique.

Brucer- well in one respect at least, WRC and NWC are similar, you never know where the defect is going to end up. I get working on one promising face, only to encounter defect, and then the face that looked horrible on the end of the log yields nice lumber.  I figure, I better just be happy I got some good lumber

[Cedarman]

Sometimes with ingrown bark, you can call it "character" rather than a defect.  One fellow wanted a lot of 8" wide boards with "character".  I really liked that customer.

[barbender]

I would like that customer too, Cedarman! I think the ingrown bark is more prevalent in ERC, at least that's one defect I haven't had to deal with in the white cedar.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

I knew a logger that believed that you should always cut the best part of the stand first.  The dessert, in essence.  That way, not matter what happened, you were always sawing the best of what you had  .

Old Saying?

[francismilker]

I knew a logger that believed that you should always cut the best part of the stand first.  The dessert, in essence.  That way, not matter what happened, you were always sawing the best of what you had  .

Old Saying?

That's the way I feel about it! It's like cutting the heart out of the watermelon!