What is red cedar wood used for

1. what is red cedar wood? 

Known botanically as Thuja plicata, Western Red Cedar takes its common name from the tree’s origins on the western coast of Canada and the United States. It is one of the most widespread trees in the Pacific Northwest, but has also been naturalised into Britain.

Also known as Western redcedar, Pacific redcedar, giant cedar or simply cedar, the tree is a coniferous softwood with leaves that remain evergreen year round. The tree has a relatively fast growth rate — between 30 and 60cm per year.

When young, Western Red Cedar trees have a cone-like shape. They typically grow between 20 and 35 metres in height (70–120 feet), but on the Pacific coast can reach heights of up to 60m (200 feet), with a trunk that’s 3–4m in diameter (9–13 feet).

Its small, scaly and pointed leaves come in opposite pairs and have white patches on the underside. A good way to identify a Western Red Cedar tree is to crush one of these between your fingers — it will emit a distinctive, sweet pineapple or pear drop-like smell.

1. where does red cedar grow

2.1 Canadian Western Red Cedar

Canadian Western Red Cedar timber is a very popular timber species for cladding as well as many other building requirements. This is for good reason. It is a timber species that delivers amazing results and is unrivalled in many of its properties. It’s worth considering if you are looking for cladding for a building project.

Canadian Western Red Cedar timber is regarded highly for its durability, colouring and appearance, resistance to decay, and weight. It is commonly used for timber cladding and exterior timber products, such as decking, fencing, sauna room and roofing.

2.2 U.K Western Red Cedar

U.K Grown Western Red Cedar was commercially introduced into the U.K in the 1950’s. This is only a moderately durable softwood, except for the “sapwood”, which is not durable.

It is a multipurpose specie, faster grown than Canadian, straight grained and stable, however, it falls far short of the imported Canadian variety and it does contain more knots as a note.

All timbers will absorb or discharge moisture to reach equilibrium with their surroundings, however, some have higher levels of movement than others. Canadian Western Red Cedar has a very small amount of movement and is thus less prone to warping, twisting and checking.

3. what is red cedar worth

Wood harvested from the Canadian is renowned for its pleasing reddish-brown colour, straight grain, excellent workability, dimensional stability and remarkable natural durability. As such, it is a preferred choice for any project where weather resistance and attractiveness are key.

Appearance

Colour: Displays a red to reddish-brown hue, with a mixture of reds, pinks and browns.

Grain: Clean, straight and even. Relatively knot free.

Texture: Medium or rough texture.

When it comes to attractiveness, Western Red Cedar timber is considered to be amongst the elite, lending itself effortlessly and dynamically to a range of contemporary or traditional architectural designs and visions.

Expect a versatile warm reddish-brown colour, with perhaps the occasional salmon pink or chocolate brown streak. Of course, no two pieces of Western Red Cedar are exactly the same, however!

Many designers regard Western Red Cedar highly for its uniform straight, fine grain and relative knot-free appearance compared to many other popular timbers. Unless sanded, Western Red Cedar typically has a medium texture.

Insect, moisture and decay resistance

This is where Western Red Cedar steps into its own — the timber is valued for its astonishingly high levels of natural resistance to decay. Building codes across the world classify Western Red Cedar as ‘durable’, enabling it to be used for exterior purposes without any treatment. It is one of very few species that thrive outdoors.

Slow growing and naturally durable compared to many other softwoods, Western Red Cedar contains thujaplicins, a type of chemical substance which acts as a natural fungicide. These extractives are toxic to decay-causing fungi, preventing the wood from rotting.

Thujaplicins are found in older Western Red Cedar trees, not the saplings. They are substances which build up over time, meaning the outer part of the hardwood is often the most durable.

Remarkably, this fungicidal mechanism persists for over 100 years after the Western Red Cedar tree is felled. This lends it well for use outdoors — cladding, fencing, garden furniture, landscaping — you name it.

With excellent natural durability, Western Red Cedar lends itself to outdoor application: fencing, cladding, landscaping.

Stability

Because of its low density and shrinkage factor, Western Red Cedar has superb dimensional stability. It is excellent at retaining its shape throughout its service life, particularly when applied externally — cedar products shrink and expand to a very minimal degree in response to changes in moisture.

Compared to other conifers, this species has twice the dimensional stability. It’s this resistance to warping, cupping and twisting that makes Western Red Cedar such a prime species for exterior use.

Interestingly, this low density also gives it good insulation properties!

As well as having excellent dimensional stability, cedar’s cellular structure provides it with good thermal and sound insulation properties.

Insulation

Western Red Cedar is one of the lightest softwoods available with interesting structural properties — the cells in its structure contain plenty of air space. With good temperature resistance, cedar makes an excellent insulator, protecting any building it is applied to from extremes of temperature. Not a bad way to keep your heating bill down, we’d say — as well as helping the planet!

Western Red Cedar’s open cell structure also makes it a very good sound insulator, able to absorb and dissipate sound; good for any interior space where sound needs to be managed.

Workability, gluing and finishing

Lightweight and non-resinous, Western Red Cedar is easy to work with and simple to finish. A lack of pitch and resin also allows it to take glue bonds from a wide range of adhesives exceptionally well.

Be warned, however — when nailing any cedar, be sure to use stainless steel. Iron fixings will react with the water-soluble polyphenols that naturally occur in the species, causing a rather unsightly blue-black blotting and staining over time.

This moves us nicely onto the next topic — finishes and treatments for your Western Red Cedar.

Grades

Western Red Cedar is available in a number of grades, from knotty to knot-free. The most popular commercially available grade — which is also the grade we offer at Duffield — is No.2 Clear & Better; this allows for only a small amount of knots, which are always tight and sound. Lower grades are usually less durable and will contain more sapwood.

4. what is red cedar wood used for

With exceptional dimensional stability, natural resistance to the elements, uniform grain and a gorgeous reddish-brown colour, Western Red Cedar is the ideal timber for a range of stylish, design-led outdoor projects. This can include:

4.1boat building

Cedar wood is good for boat building, Strong and resistant to rot. BTW, if you are going to launch into salt water, you will be happy to know that salt water does not rot wood. just watch out for toredo worms. But rain water, and all other fresh water, does rot wood. So especially if you plan to boat in fresh water. obtain a list of timber species, and their order number in terms of resistance to rot. Cypress is right up there with Teak I think, but easier to work with.

4.2 Decking

When it comes to decking, there is no better wood than Western Red Cedar. Cedar wood is a unique species and has been the material of choice for many years.

For the past ten years, Western Red Cedar deck boards have been  best-selling decking product; favoured by architects, contractors and homeowners alike due to its stunning appearance and outstanding performance characteristics.

Western Red Cedar can create a high-quality deck, with a natural ability to resist decay and dimensional properties keeping the decking straight and stable, perfect for home decking or commercial decking use.

4.3 Sauna Room

Western Red Cedar is most popular sauna wood. Cedar sauna woods are strong, lightweight and generally do not warp or shrink over time.

Western Red Cedar sauna woods are extremely popular in North America and have that famous aromatic scent quality. Cedar sauna woods vary in color and shade, generally the heartwood is darker and outer layers are lighter. There are several grades of tongue & groove cedar sauna woods, the most popular for sauna use is the clear knot free #1 grade. With some effort in board placement, the overall look of the cedar sauna can be quite pleasing and customizable to the look you prefer.

4.4 Garden furniture

Attractive, comfortable and renowned for its resistance to weather and insects, Western red cedar has been a top choice for crafting fine furniture for outdoors use for generations. At Cedarwood Furniture, we carry a complete collection of Western red cedar wood outdoor furniture that enables you to furnish your outdoor space exactly the way you like.

4.5 Red cedar Panelling

Western red cedar is synonymous with beauty and durability, thanks to its stunning colour palette and expected service life of 60+ years. The raw material used to produce Western Red Cedar cladding is sourced from forests in the coastal regions of British Columbia, Canada – an area known for its high quality, fine-grained old-growth logs.

Western red cedar cladding looks stunning indoors too, creating a feeling of warmth and luxury on accent walls or feature ceilings. Its excellent dimensional stability makes it perfect for high moisture areas such as bathrooms, kitchens, conservatories, swimming pools, and saunas.

4.6  Cedar Shoe trees

Cedar shoe trees can protect our shoe ,Mosture absorption perspiration