Working with Cedar ?
Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Wood and Wood Preparation / Working with Cedar ?
- This topic has 4 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 7 months ago by Dmytro.
-
AuthorPosts
-
10 August 2014 at 11:55 pm #60221
First off, this is my first posting here. I’m a fairly new woodworker who waited way too long in life to get started (already shed those tears and I’m fine now), especially with hand tools. And if it weren’t for Paul Sellers, I wouldn’t be here loving it along with everyone else. Now that the schmoozing is over. Not long ago I made some outdoor furniture for my wifes patio out of Cedar 2x4s from the local home center. It turned out decent even though I used pocket hole joinery *gasp*. I’m trying now to redo them all with all the fantastic instruction from Pauls classes, but Cedar, or at least the kind I purchased, is so stringy I’m losing the battle with mortise/tenons. Is that just the nature of this species ? I can’t afford redwood or teak so I guess it’s a less expensive learning experience.
11 August 2014 at 3:29 am #60227I have done quite a bit of work with Western Red Cedar, it is a bit soft, but it does work well, I have never had a “stringy” issue with it. As Brian stated, make sure your tools are good and sharp.
In addition to Redwood and Teak, Cypress and White Oak are also good choices for outdoor furniture and less expensive.
11 August 2014 at 4:24 pm #60236I’ll chalk it up to dull tools and poor layout, which is why I’m here anyway. Thank you sirs.
Hey,
as Steve Follis already mentioned, your tools has to be literally razor sharp. When a chisel doesn’t shave there will be a lot tear-outs.
Second, cedar is soft, especially when just brought from the store, because it’s wet. Buy the wood in advance and let it dry,it will become somewhat harder.
And third: don’t apply to much force when chopping, otherwise you’ll smash the fibers. The physics of cutting and chopping is not that straightforward as it seems, hard blows will compress fibers so much that they’ll tear before the cutting edge could cut them. Try different blows on a scrap, you’ll get it right away. You also might consider removing the bulk of material by drilling, this will solve the compression issue.
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.