Wood ID help

Ian Barley

Member
Messages
562
I am seeking some help with ID'ing some timebr. It has been supplied to me as Western Red Cedar but I am pretty certain that it is not. I am sorry but I don't have pics at this time but will post some tomorrow if nobody can recognise it from the description.

It is approx the same density as WRC , maybe just a touch heavier. It planes up to a really bright purple colour with frequent and very marked white patches distributed all the way through the board. This white marking doesn't appear to be sapwood as it is throughout the board and is in small discrete patches range from a few inches in area. The timber has a strong odour but a different smell to WRC, more "disinfectanty" than WRC. There is also many more knots in these boards than with WRC at the grade that this material is meant to be (clear).

I have purchased lots of Cedar and know that it can be very variable in colour but this stuff is unlike anything that I have seen in the past. I have contacted the supplier who claim that it is WRC and are going to send their rep out to look at it but wondered if anybody here recognised the description and could point me at the correct species.
 
Nancy

I don't have a camera with me at the moment but will post some tomorrow. I just put this up because I thought somebody might recognise from the description. When the suppliers rep comes out I would like to be able to say " I think its...." rather than just " I know its not WRC".
 
I have seen cedar wich was purpleish in color with white spots in it when freshly planed or sanded, then it went to more of a red color after a few days.
 
Could somebody who is a bit closer to him please give Mr Fusco his cigar!:thumb:

I did a quick google, found this site - http://www.cedarusa.com/pictures.htm - and that is the stuff that they have sent me. Thanks Frank!! I thought that red cedar was western and eastern cedar was white. I didn't realise that cedar could be both eastern and red:eek:. The fact that Eastern Red Cedar is actually a juniper tree also fits perfectly with the "disinfectanty" smell of this timber.
 
Sounds like Aeromatic Red Cedar, Most common down here in God's country. Used primarialy for Cedar chest because of the pungent oils are unhappy for bugs and such. Repells all kinds of insects and such. Used a lot for fence postsas it is long to rot and last most of a lifetime or longer.

Deer love to hide out there in the winter and when it rains, Cardinals build their nests there in the spring. will grow where nothing else will and is propagated by the droppings of birds who eat the blue berries it produces. Often used as a poor man's Christmas tree.

Another name is Eastern Red Cedar as it is common in the Eastern half of US
 
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ian,

is the smell a good smell or bad smell, i personally love the smell of what i have always called aromatic cedar, which is purplish in color when cut and has the white streaks mentioned. it is the stuff commonly used in cedar chest and closet linings.

chris
 
ian,

is the smell a good smell or bad smell, i personally love the smell of what i have always called aromatic cedar, which is purplish in color when cut and has the white streaks mentioned. it is the stuff commonly used in cedar chest and closet linings.

chris


You know Chris - I would find it difficult to make a call on whether the smell was pleasant or not. It basically smells like "clean" because it seems to be so similar to the artificial smells in so many cleaning products used over here. Its not unpleasant but I suspect that I wouldn't want to spend all day in a locked room with it. I work a lot of WRC and have to say that I have become pretty desensitised to its aroma. Sometimes people visit my workshop and comment on the Cedar smell but I have to get right next to it before I notice it these days. With this ERC I noticed the difference as soon as the blade cut into the first length.

I now just have to bicker with the supplier and get them to take back the $2000 worth of Eastern Red Cedar they have sent me and send me the Western Red Cedar that I ordered. Ho hum!

Bill - I had done some investigation on "Aromatic Cedar" but was unable to find any pictures that confirmed that this was what it was. It seems that there are lots of different Cedars, most of which are biologically unrelated and all of which seem to go by several different names. And the toast ladies and gentlemen is - "Confusion to the enemy!":bonkers:
 
ian,

the aromatic kind that i am familiar with has the strongest odor i have ever encountered in any wood. years ago i was planing some down in the shop i used to work in which was somewhere around 3500 sqft, a few minutes later all the guys were walking over wanting to know what i was planing. it had filled the entire shop with the smell.

i get the same way with cypress, i smell it for the first 30 min or so then don't notice it anymore.

hope your supplier does you right.

chris
 
If the supplier and you still have a sense of humor about this, you could always tell them that you meant, "The other Western Red Cedar." :)

Hope everything works out.

Actually a good point Mark. Maybe based on our joint geographic locations I should specify the Westernmost Red Cedar in future.:)
 
Spoke to the supplier this morning. They have tracked back and it was originally supplied to them as Eastern Red Cedar but they didn't realise that there was any difference.:) Trust me, they do now. They will be swapping out for a same size pack of WRC in the next week or so. Happy ending all round and proof that the next best thing to not making mistakes is knowing that we all make mistakes and correcting them when they are yours.

Many thanks to all for your help.
 
And thus, once more, peace comes to happy valley.:D Ian, You may want to save a few boards for the moths in your life.:wave: Cedar chest and cedar closets for the protection of wool especially.
Shaz :)
 
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