Hi everybody,
Just bought a bunch of Spanish Cedar from the local lumber yard. The guy who sold it to me said that it comes from Bolivia. The color is a strong red and it’s fairly light and really nice to work with. It is completely clear and has that nice cedar smell to it. Anybody know anything interesting about this wood. Am I inadvertently destroying some rainforest? Couldn’t help myself, the wood is just so nice.
Brian
Replies
Just don't lick your lips while you are working it. This is the worse tasting wood that I know of. No self respecting vermin would think of eating this stuff.
Otherwise it is a great wood.
Hey Brian,
The classic use for Spanish Cedar is to line humidors for cigar storage. It appearantly has just the right properties for maintaining the proper humidity while also maintaining dimensional stability.
Tom
Brian--When I was a teenage kid 40+ years ago I worked in a pattern shop sweeping up sawdust and shavings. The pattern makers there used a lot of Spanish Cedar and really liked the way it worked, stability, etc.
Brian, I had the same experience; I ran out of white cedar for a boat project, went to the local lumber yard and found the Spanish cedar almost totally clear. I used it on some seats and after epoxying it, it turns a very dark red, almost a burgundy color. Very stunning color! I think it is slightly softer than white cedar but not so much so that you couldn't use it for the same application. I am considering using it with white cedar accent stripes on a kayak.
I have plans for a little 18' sailing skiff that have been on the to do list for about about five years now. Do you think that the spanish cedar would be a good wood to use for the hull??
18' sailing skiff .. If ya want the boat to last USE White OAK or Sticka spruce! AND fibergalss EVERYTHINZG.. Especially in salt water!
White oak for frames, keel, etc. Too heavy for the whole boat.
Sitka is the pre-eminent wood for spars, it would not be my choice for a hull. Spanish Cedar, OTOH, has been recommended to me as being a suitable replacement for the mahogany planks on my boat. The recommending parties are the operators of a well-known boat yard in CT that specializes in repair/restoration of wooden boats.
As for fiberglass - different strokes for different folks - it depends. If a traditional planked boat my suggestion is "No." to fiberglassing it. Fresh water is, on the whole, more effective at promoting rot than salt. Your results my vary.
Ed.. Just sort of funnin' ya.... I built a 22 foot cabin crusier long ago.. All white Oad and straight grained Sticka Spruce..
Without the engin' I still needed to get a bigger load trailer...
How the Vikings move then Oak boats?
EDIT: I saw a traditional planked boat ...
Sorry again.... mine was planked below the water line and plywood above...
I'm not sure why.. As I remember the plans I sent for...
Edited 6/13/2005 1:15 pm ET by Will George
The recommending parties are the operators of a well-known boat yard in CT that specializes in repair/restoration of wooden boats.
I imagine they know what they're talking about.
I would tend toward the white cedar for a larger boat BUT, that said, if you epoxy over it you should have no problem. I will be using epoxy and fiberglass for the kayak and that combo gives tremendous strength. I am building a 21' power boat and have encapsulated all the white cedar but not used fiberglass.
When I was a kid growing up on the Chesapeake Bay, Capt. Harper -- the doyen of local boat builders -- used oak for frames, keels, and a variety of woods for the rest. Mahogany or white oak for decks, SY pine for lapstrakes, cabin sides.Bear in mind that his boats were working boats and always painted. White topside and red lead on the bottom (it repelled worms). Yardarms were Sitka spruce and varnished. Dunno about the skipjacks, they were generally built on the Eastern Shore when I was a kid.The Chris Crafts of my childhood were invariably mahogany and varnished.Saw a beautiful twenty metre sailboat that was Danish-built of teak. Still recall her lines almost forty years later.Leon Jester
twenty metre sailboat that was Danish-built of teak....
Gee.... now THAT would be EXPENSIVE these days!
I was just at my hardwood place... They have teak there... GOD... Ya have to go through a metal detector and leave your bank-book just to look at it!
DANGER THE DUST IS TOXIC .I HAD A LUMBERYARD PLANE SOME , I WAS APPROXIMATELY 50' AWAY I STARTED COUGHING AND GETTING SICK VERY FAST. MY BREATHING HAS SUFFERED EVER SINCE. BUT DO LIKE TO CARVE IT.
Edited 6/9/2005 9:51 am ET by budweiser
Just bought a bunch of Spanish Cedar .. If ya pay EXTRA you can get stuff guaranteed not to leak sap!
EDIT: I love Cedar whatever the parents were!
Edited 6/9/2005 12:30 pm ET by Will George
Heed budweiser's warnings. Spanish Cedar is very toxic. When milling be sure to wear a respirator and use adequate dust collection. Also try to sweep up as much dust as possible. It can cause burns and rashes to some people with allergies. I can taste it now just thinking about it. Once you taste it you will never forget it.
J.P.
While I was sanding some raised panels for a trunk my wife came into the shop to take a look at how it was coming and she immediately started to get a bright red rash on her arms. I told her what I'd heard about the allergy sensitivity and sure enough after leaving the shop it went away. This blanket chest is for the foot of our bed to store our bedding, do you think that by storing the bedding in the unfinished interior of the chest she could become allergic? I'm hoping it's just the loose dust that bothered her. I also got some chest congestion for a few days which has since gone away.
Brian
Just make sure you get all of the dust out of the inside. However, some of the oils in the cedar can be harmful to fabric. I know that aromatic cedar is bad for fine linen. Walnut is also said to be detrimental for some materials as well.I would probably put a wash coat of shellac on the inside just to be sure. I'm not sure if you could get 100% of the dust out of the chest. If you wanted to keep a portion of the chest unfinished I would think of not shellacking the bottom and making a wooden grate to keep the sheets and blankets off the bottom.J.P.http://www.jpkfinefurniture.com
Thanks for the tip, I'll give it the wash coat you mentioned to be on the safe side and the grate won't matter because the bottom is plywood, only the sides are cedar.
Brian
Post some photos when your finished.J.P.http://www.jpkfinefurniture.com
some of the oils in the cedar can be harmful to fabric???
I have my wife's old Hope-Chest.. It was a really expensive one at the time... Her Dad HAD ALOT of money... It is cedar lined and a card inside tells you to sand the inside with 220 grit paper every few years...
It is that red aromatic cedar... Not Spanish...There is lace, cottons, linens and whatever in there... Nothing seems damaged.. But I have not tried anything on though.. Most of the stuff in there about 40 years now,,,
I think Aromatic Cedar is Eastern Red Cedar, Juniperus virginiana. And I can't rember which of the cedars is supposedly harmful to fabric. I came about this information when speaking with a conservator at Winterthur. I wish I could remember more information.I do remember him saying that walnut is harmful to linen.Let me see if I can dig up some more information.J.P.http://www.jpkfinefurniture.com
Ideal material for humidors as it imparts a flavor to the cigars that is considered optimal, although in England it is traditional to use Mahogany. It is very fragrant but not a overpowering a smell as aromatic cedar and could therefore be used to line a chest of drawers to good effect.
I have to build a cigar humidor for a client, and Spanish Cedar seems to be the wood of choice for the inside lining. I assume it should not be finished ...... is that correct?********************************************************
"I tend to live in the past because most of my life is there."
-- Herb Caen (1916-1997)
Correct, that would ruin it for that particular purpose, also as mentioned, watch out for the dust on this wood..
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