Western Red Cedar knots question...

[ayerwood]

Hello all!  We are in the process of building a new shop(finally!) and I am going to mill the boards and battens for the siding.  I was looking through my forest today at some possible cedar "victims" to produce these boards.  My question is about the knots.  Is there a big difference if I take a tree with live vs. dead branches in the first 16ft of the tree?  Also, branch/knot sizes: what is too big?  Are bigger or smaller ones more likely to pop out of the boards? etc.  Thank you all in advance.

[beenthere]

The dead ones are more likely to pop out, big or small.

The live limbs will likely stay tight, but because they are still live on the tree, they may be larger in diameter.
The dead limbs will likely have included bark around them, which usually makes them come loose in their socket.

Sounds like a fun project. Hope to see some pics.

[highleadtimber16]

beenthere said it. Dead/ soft knot is annoying try to avoid it.

[redbeard]

If there 2" and bigger they will likely pop out some year,  if you do use them put small end out,  knots will have a slight taper.they can't come out if there's solid backing behind the siding.

[ayerwood]

Thanks guys.  I'm off to get my trees.  And I will post pics later.  I am overdue on showing you all a tour of my property/setup. 

[Left Coast Chris]

Also,  green knots are likely to split/crack when drying.  The wood around the knot had some cracking on my last batch also.  Not extensive but something to consider for siding.   Assuming you are getting a building permit, you will have to shear ply for standard bracing requirements so 3/8" CDX works well over vapor barrier and studs then the siding.  No worry about cracking etc with the shear ply. 

[ladylake]

Just put some caulking in those knot holes.  Steve