Beginners Guide To Wood Species – What To Expect With Cedar
Beginners Guide To Wood Species – What To Expect With Cedar
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Welcome back to the Mean’s Woodshop wood species basics series! Today we’re looking at a woodworking favorite (and my favorite softwood) cedar! We’re doing a brief overview of the two main species of cedar, western red cedar, and eastern red cedar, also known as aromatic red cedar.
Both of these woods are overall wonderful to work with. They both smell really good and look beautiful on a finished project. I find eastern cedar to be a bit easier and more pleasant to work with, as it doesn’t ding and scratch as easily as the western cedar.
I hope you found this video informative and I will have more wood species basics coming in the future! If you enjoyed this video, please like it! Be sure and subscribe as I upload brand new woodworking videos every Friday! Me and my brother also follow up on those projects every Wednesday. Click the notification bell so you won’t miss a video!
Thanks for watching!
If you actually read the description, leave a comment about how Jackson needs to stop hating on cedar. The man doesn’t know the blasphemy that he speaks.
#cedar #woodworking #woodspecies
I love your costar
Very useful. Thanks.
I used it for a raised bed and it started to rot in just over a year
Its rough on one side because of the grade scale. When it is milled board feet is measured by the size of the stack. Its 48 1/2 to 49 inches wide by 59 1/2 by 60. Its basically allows you to reach the 60 inch mark sooner. Cedar is in it’s own grade scale. Its graded on the sanded face. It’s called face or better grade. Or F1+. The other side is irrelevant long as its structurally sound.
I think your reasoning for why one side is rough is a pretty good guess. That’s what I would guess.
Thank you
How is it for sculpture carving?
i’m making a 9 foot cedar spear for the luls 2 inch around then gonna bake it it my chimney and do tensile test
Would you suggest cider furniture for patio furniture? I am looking for a type of wood that does not need any strong products to keep it from rotting.
Thank you for the great video. I need some advice. I repaired exterior wood on an old house and painted it. next year I found that the sap/resin was bleeding out through the paint.
Any suggestions on how to prep cedar wood before paint to avoid bleed out? Thanks again
Love this very informative video. I learned so much from this. But still have only one question. I live in NC and I have on my property some cedar trees that were torn down by a tornado that came thru last February so I decided to put the wood to some good use and I made a beautiful wood slice walkway around my pool and also used for some coasters for living room table. But while I was cutting up the wood I noticed what I believe is the sap in the tree coming to the surface and it has these beautiful glittery sparkles in the centers here the red is. I have tried to research why but have found no info as to why it sparkles like my slices I cut up. Can anyone tell me why
After you seal cedar, does it still maintain the aroma?
too much video editing.
I use some epoxy. I have done many projects/art work using plain ol cedar fence pickets, a torch, some sandpaper and epoxy. It doesn’t have to be any thicker than a coat of polyurethane and it is so beautiful and protects the wood. I know it’s been a couple years but I enjoyed the video, I got into wood cuz my husband does txDot work and cuts down so many trees that I have him bring them home. Been working on a bottom part of a 150+ year old oak, hoping to make a bench and table for the patio (that has cedar roof from fence pickets) too bad can’t show a Pic here
Great video, thank you for the info. Have you used danish oil yet? How does the oil /poly blend work?
When you mention that you have cedar trees growing on your property but don’t cut to a view of said trees….
Try sanding with 2000 grit with no finish.
This was exactly the information I was looking for. Thank you.
From what I’ve seen the reason one side is rough as apposed to sanded is simply that it gives you the option to have a rough or finished look when used outside. I have found furniture grade eastern red ceader milled smooth on bolth sides.
Just my experience with ceader.
Dave
I like your style! subscribed. Cedar is one of my favorites.
The reason for the rough sawn on the one side is simply, cost (less machining/time)
I am from the UK and yesterday (5th April 2022) was told that the price of Western Cedar, V groove 5 3/4" x 3/4" tongue and groove was £11 per metre plus 20% VAT !!!
Therefore to panel something the size of a domestic internal door would cost approximately £120 plus VAT.
Maybe there is a Covid Tax in there somewhere.
Use a wood conditioner before you apply a finish. Cedar is full of oil naturally it cans take up to twice as long to to dry as pine so once it is dry it will soak up any finish fast I made a cedar bar and used wipe on poly and it actually did quite well
Hey guys, would you use 2”x 5/8” cedar to replace slats on a park/garden bench? Also would it matter if it has a bunch of knots in it. Thanks if any input
Love your decorative ideas
What would you stain pine with to make it the same color as a eastern red cedar that has been coated with Rubio Monocoat
Eastern Red Cedar is in fact Juniper.
Totally absorbs every bit of words
We have a lot on our farm in KY. And we just built a small cabin. Just one big open room with high ceilings and double loft. But we did the whole ceiling in cedar. Looks awesome, love the purple when it’s first cut then ends up looking red after a little bit. Plus the smell of it is great! but I found a cedar log recently that’s been buried in the ground for i don’t know how long. But I’m thinking about cutting it into boards and if it looks any different than newly cut cedar would like to make something out of it. It’s not petrified but the ground it come out of was a wet area. The log doesn’t seem rotted at all or effected by bugs
Just made a 6′ bench out of Cedar that was an inch thick. Remember, it’s a soft wood. Which caused me to learn that it a lot of flection over the 6′ even though it is an inch thick.
Cedar is rough cut one side for finishing application. To trim and finish for rustic looks, cabins, log cabins, out door furniture and many others.
I love the Table Saw
In ameraca it looks like you use ceader for evrything but in a place like new zealand it’s very hard to come by i wholed cost in the high hundreds of dollers NZD just for 4m
Very good video. What can you tell me about African cedar, specifically from Ghana ?
i have a somewhat educated guess (key word being guess) on why 1 side is rough,and the other is smooth for the cedar you have. when people make wooden shingles, you are not supposed to mill them with a saw, it opens the wood grains up and it doesnt shed water properly, it absorbs the water instead, and doesnt last as long.you are supposed to split the wood, so the cellulose or whatever inside the grain of the wood isnt disturbed, (i may be saying it not quite right, so dont rip into me,but i am giving you the right idea from my understanding). so if the wood you are holding is actually shingles, they may have smoothed one side to help it shed water?
My whole kitchen is ceader wood and I hate it when can I do to make my kitchen pop?
cedar tea will kill almost any parasite. enjoy the shits tho wont kill u tho. thats old school shit
I built a crotch slab cedar coffee table recently, for the finish I did a heavy coat of sanding sealer and then three coats of lacquer, it turned out great but dings really easy because the cedar is so soft
I haven’t sold it yet so I’m considering scuffing the lacquer and doing a flood coat of countertop epoxy so it will have a permanent hard surface
I’ll let you know how it turns out
I wonder if the rough side is more aromatic being as there is more surface area.
I have a piece that I felled down in Arkansas. The heart of it is bright white and purple swirls. The outer bits are a deep orange pink. Any ideas for what I should do with it?
One side is plained
Dual application if you were to use it under a porch you would use smooth rough side is to hold on to paints and finishes better I use it all the time and you can’t find just rough or just smooth like with pine so if you were to use it indoors you use the smooth side outdoors rough side
Good stuff and that cat has got personality man!
The rough side of Cedar = opportunity to practice your planing skills. 🙂
Rough and planed cedar. We just had a lodge built and our cedar came rough on one side and planed on the other. We were given the option of rough or smooth walls. This wood provided that option.
I’ve read that water based stains are recommended for indoor cedar items. And to avoid splotchiness to use to use a sanding sealer on it before staining.
Your ‘music’ drowned out your words. Audio was muffled to begin with then you added that noise in background that just irritated me enough to leave halfway through. Pity, this would have been a good video otherwise. No music during DIY demos or talks. Get an external microphone as well. Blurry audio.
The reason one side is smooth and other side is rough on tongue and groove planks is two fold. Rough side is both decorative and also grabs the glue better if you are sticking it to the wall.
What a dope Abe unique channel. I’m stoked I found it, really enjoying the content. 🙏
I work for a homebuilder and to my knowledge they do a rough side and a smooth side it’s just personal preference since cedar is made for exterior applications. The Roughside may help hide natural characteristics in the wood that people may not want to see probably makes the painting job easier. I personally prefer the Roughside out when doing exterior applications just because it makes it easier to hide imperfections and they’re not drawn to your eye with all the roughness.
Why is one side rough? To balance out the moisture in the wood and reduce cupping. It acts like an evaporator, to draw moisture through the wood evenly. Take a dry piece, lay it on a flat surface, pour some water on it. The wet side will bow up (cup) creating a gap in the bottom middle. Take that same piece (dry), hang it or put a board under it. (create a air gap). Wet the board, no cup. I hope you understand what I’m saying.
That’s a beautiful jaguar on your lap lol .