Eastern Red Cedar

[Dave Shepard]

I've got access to a large quantity of erc, but I don't know much about it. The fence post sized pieces are being taken, and the rest is being piled, probably for burning. What should I cut from these logs? I'm thinking PT alternatives, 4x4, 1x lumber, etc.

[4x4American]

Subscribed

[WDH]

I think that 1" would sell the best for blanket chests and such. 

[Ludo]

Dave-

I get a number of requests for 4/4 boards and 3/4 siding.  If you have the space, take the cedar and stockpile it off the ground.  Seal the ends and it will last for years.  Cut it as you get orders.  That is what I try to do however I sell it too fast to seal! :D

[boscojmb]

I have cut a bit of cedar.
It seems like they want 3/4" for cedar closets, and 1" for most everything else. Seems like ERC is worth way too much to folks around here to make 4 x 4's out of

[scleigh]

Cut it into 1x's and put an add on c.l. The phone will ring off the hook.

[deepsouth.us]

If you need to saw it before taking orders I'd go 1x stuff. ERC is pretty desirable around here (northeast MS). I'm sawing a load of it right now into 6x6 posts for my barn. My neighbor put me on the logs because he knew I needed barn posts. If it weren't for potentially rubbing him the wrong way I'd mill/sell it all, buy new treated posts, and have a good bit of money left over.

[Cedarman]

1x6 and 3/4 x 6 are by far the most popular.  Other widths work fine also. You have about 2 years to let the logs lay off the ground before the sapwood starts to deteriorate.
Another big seller in the spring are 2x8x8 and 2x8x4' for raised garden beds.  Use the big logs that have a good amount of ingrown bark.  Also a garden bed board will be just fine if it has a little doughty wood sprinkled in the board.
We get about the same price for a 4x4 as we would for four 1x4.
You should get a nice price in Ma as we ship fairly often into your state.

[bandmiller2]

Red cedar is worth too much in our area to squander. Its very decay resistant so theirs no great rush, keep it clean and off the ground. Custom carpenters, furnature shops and rustic outdoor furnature makers are the best bet. Get the word out and they will come. Frank C.

[sandsawmill14]

i always saw my cedar into 6 x whatever it will make cants then i cans stack it in the shed and resaw it to what i need.  i cut the side lumber into 1x6. just be sure to oversize cants to allow for kerf based on 1' lumber. this way i can store it in 1/2 the space the logs take up and you will lose alot less if it is sawn before the sap wood is rotten. this works well for me anyway

[Magicman]

Some of the ERC logs that I will be sawing tomorrow have lain since 2002.  The others since 2011. 

[4x4American]

what do yawl think anout this?:

A guy who runs a medium sized circle sawmill around here (he can cut 3 tractor trailer loads of hardwood a day when hes got a full crew) told me that he sells cedar fast, because of its rot resistance.  But he says that the cedar here on the east coast is all juniper and isnt real cedar.  he claims that it isnt rot resistant any more than say pine is and after 4 years in the ground you can push it right over.  I really dont have much experience working with cedar so I cant speak on this but I found his argument interesting.  He says that the real rot resistant cedar is out on the west coast.

What say you?

[Magicman]

ERC is a Juniper, but I guess that we could get all twisted up about what was "real".

[deadfall]

From Wikipedia:

Juniperus virginiana — its common names include red cedar, eastern red-cedar, eastern redcedar, eastern juniper, red juniper, pencil cedar, and aromatic cedar --   Because of its rot resistance, the wood is used for fence posts.

[thecfarm]

Glad I'm not included in the East Coast loop.   :D  I have a bunch of cedar that has been on the ground for more than 4 years and it's still nice and solid. Maybe the cedar is better on the west side,but on this east side it's doing fine.

[mesquite buckeye]

Dad used to say that red cedar fence posts were good for 75 years in Ohio. Then he moved to Missouri where they used hedge (osage orange) for posts. The guys around there said a hedge post would outlast 3 holes.

And I thought all those tall tales came from Texas and Minnesota. ;D 8) 8) 8)

[mesquite buckeye]

Of course I've seen such bad erosion in Missouri that that could actually be true. Just keep digging a new hole deeper when the old one washes away.

[Banjo picker]

I had this stashed in the barn loft.  Putting in up on the back porch.  32 ft. Long.  I sawed this on the one inch scale, off the saw it's about 7/8.  I planed a few boards, most as sawn.  I need to saw about another hundred and fifty feet.  Banjo

 

[mesquite buckeye]

I feel like I am standing on my head looking at that. ;D 8) 8) 8)

[Magicman]

Looking good Tim.   8)

[Banjo picker]

I feel like I am standing on my head looking at that. ;D 8) 8) 8)

Then you should have seen it before I rotated the pic.      .....Thanks Lynn I still got a long way to go on the remodel.  Banjo

[Kbeitz]

Here in Pa. we use Black locust trees for fence posts...

[WDH]

Keep your Christmas lights up all year long.  That is a line in a Country Music song  :D.

Isn't a yawl one of those pointy thingys with a sharp point? 

[Magicman]

I still got a long way to go on the remodel.  Banjo

I thought that a "long way to go" was normal for remodeling projects.    :D

[landscraper]

Isn't a yawl one of those pointy thingys with a sharp point?

That's an awl.
A yawl is a two masted sailing vessel.
When it is used to transport fodder for livestock it is called a hay yawl  ???