Northern white cedar

sprucegum

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Bought a load off my son. The price on this stuff is going out of site and a friend of ours is desperate to get some for his raised garden bed business. His usual supplier is 30 days out on orders, in 30 days the demand will be about over for the year. Pitty to use some of this for garden beds some of it is milling out almost clear. Way more than I need so if there are any decoy carvers among us I could be coerced into milling some carving blocks.

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sprucegum

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I will pm you if it's something you're interested in I will start a thread in the for sale forum.
 

Mike Hill

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Carving blocks yes, but also some some longish - relatively straight grained knot free stuff for some model boat planking. Western cedar is getting danged hard to get here and very knotty (wonder where the good stuff goes?) and eastern white doesn't even show up. Probably won't be practical since next boat will be pretty big and would need at least 8' long.
 

sprucegum

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A lot of people around here build cedar strip canoes, they usually end up buying at least double the wood they need to get enough good clear strips. I will probably advertise some locally.
 

Mike Hill

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Well that is on my list to do also, but the boats i'm doing are RC sailboats. Just learned how to sail and am enjoying it immensely. In the club I am associated with - they only race plastic ones. So although I have to have one to participate, I'm gonna try to win them over to the bigger wood ones.
 
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sprucegum

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There was a well know HS shop teacher around here that was really into cedar strip canoues. Many of his students built them and he gave many adult night classes. Even after retirement he continued to give classes. He is now departed but he left a legacy of many canou builders.
 

Sprung

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I do really like the look of northern white cedar, especially if it's clear/relatively knot free...

I have fond memories of helping my dad build a couple cedar strip boats. The first one he started when I was 10. I remember him ripping all the pieces to width on his radial arm saw, which he set up in the driveway for the task. I was on the catching end, catching everything as it came out of the saw, putting strips on the pile, and sending the board back for the next strip to be ripped off of it. We even used some offcuts from those boats to start building a scale model of a runabout. He had an old RC car that had a broken suspension - we were going to cannibalize it for parts to power/steer that model boat, but we never got a chance to finish it. It should still be in his shop - maybe, in time, I'll have to finish it with my boys...

I haven't worked with northern white cedar since helping dad build those two boats as a kid. Dave, if you have to have some clear boards left at the end that would fill a game box, or even a large pith free chunk that would fill the box - whatever's easiest to do - I think I'd like to get some for the sake of nostalgia. Dad is still alive, but his health is declining in so many ways and he's beyond the point of being able to do anything in the shop anymore.
 

sprucegum

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Carving blocks yes, but also some some longish - relatively straight grained knot free stuff for some model boat planking. Western cedar is getting danged hard to get here and very knotty (wonder where the good stuff goes?) and eastern white doesn't even show up. Probably won't be practical since next boat will be pretty big and would need at least 8' long.
I have shipped some longer stuff fedex but I believe when you pass the 6 foot mark the price goes up significantly.
 

Mike Hill

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Thinking about it - no real need for full length (8') - I can do splices as long as I scatter them - so 6' or less can do.
 
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Mike1950

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Carving blocks yes, but also some some longish - relatively straight grained knot free stuff for some model boat planking. Western cedar is getting danged hard to get here and very knotty (wonder where the good stuff goes?) and eastern white doesn't even show up. Probably won't be practical since next boat will be pretty big and would need at least 8' long.
Goes for a whole bunch of $$$$
 

sprucegum

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our white cedar used to be pretty low on the price scale and most larger logging outfits would not even bother with it. Low overhead guys with a horse or tractor were the only ones cutting it. The price has really come up the past few years, due in part to people wanting to get away from the pressure treated stuff for outdoor use.
 

sprucegum

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I do really like the look of northern white cedar, especially if it's clear/relatively knot free...

I have fond memories of helping my dad build a couple cedar strip boats. The first one he started when I was 10. I remember him ripping all the pieces to width on his radial arm saw, which he set up in the driveway for the task. I was on the catching end, catching everything as it came out of the saw, putting strips on the pile, and sending the board back for the next strip to be ripped off of it. We even used some offcuts from those boats to start building a scale model of a runabout. He had an old RC car that had a broken suspension - we were going to cannibalize it for parts to power/steer that model boat, but we never got a chance to finish it. It should still be in his shop - maybe, in time, I'll have to finish it with my boys...

I haven't worked with northern white cedar since helping dad build those two boats as a kid. Dave, if you have to have some clear boards left at the end that would fill a game box, or even a large pith free chunk that would fill the box - whatever's easiest to do - I think I'd like to get some for the sake of nostalgia. Dad is still alive, but his health is declining in so many ways and he's beyond the point of being able to do anything in the shop anymore.
I think I have that covered. Flitches from big butted trees.

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