Red Cedar - is there

[Goggomobile]

Hi all,
This is my first time on this Forum I usually post on the turning ones.

I brought a whole stack of timber with some friends ... I usually turn so most of the timber I'll keep. However there is some large pieces of Red Cedar.

- 4off x 400 x 600 x 75
- date stamps 1998
- sawn, seasoned, with no knots ... very consistent.

Ive turned a few bits of red Cedar awhile ago and have found it to be fairly unexciting.

I guess it is really best used for furniture or panelling. I thought about making a dash board for one of my Goggomobil's ... might be a bit out there.

is there a market for this ?

Randal

[Luke Maddux]

The pieces you have aren't particularly long, but they're nice and thick. This can be valuable for certain furniture parts. Unfortunately, 75mm stock is best suited for things like table legs, which typically are around 750mm in length. So what you have is definitely an "off size", but that by no means makes it unmarketable.

I would say that a fair price on the forums would be around $3500 - $4500 per cubic meter for that, particularly if it's a nice, dark, dense, tightly grained piece that's common to forest-grown, older cedar trees.

Good luck,
Luke

[rtyuiop]

Even if it's a bit bland I reckon some other turners would be interested (heck, I would be if the price is right and it's fairly tight grained!) - 75mm thick is enough to get a decent size bowl, and it's also a decent size for cutting into either pepper grinders or even box making bits.

[Robson Valley]

Which red cedar is this? The Australian hardwood or the western red cedar of the PacNW part of NAmerica?

[Goggomobile]

Which ?

im no expert. Definely not western red Cedar ... I worked on some houses in the 80s with WRC

Fairly confident it's not the overseas one since I have a piece of that a few years ago which I though was red Cedar and got the boys on wood forum to ID

some pic ... now apologies on sizes .. a I had a look this mornin and the sizes vary but all are thicker .. label on timber says Qld Red Cedar .. is that different to NSW. Probably tougher and better at Footy I guess. :)

Hey do do you see the chasis of my Goggo .. isn't she a beauty. This is the chasis for my Dart I'm working on :)

[Luke Maddux]

That's Australian Red Cedar. It gets called Queensland Red Cedar pretty commonly, or just Red Cedar, sometimes Victorian Red Cedar if it's grown there. It's all the same tree. Toona Ciliata.

That's potentially a great piece of it. If I still lived in Brisbane I may even come down to the Gold Coast to check it out.

I don't suppose you have a scale around and could measure its density do you? That's really the tell-tale quality. If it's somewhere in the 4200 kg/m^3 range that's good. If it's lower, I've seen it as low as 3400, then it's of a lesser quality, but by no means a bad piece of wood and CERTAINLY "marketable". That piece would make everything from bed legs to bowls to resawn, bookmatched panels.

My initial thought would be that since its so big, it's possible that it came from a very large, forest grown, possibly even old growth tree, but that's all extrapolation. Either way a nice block of wood.

Cheers,
Luke

[rtyuiop]

I agree with Luke, that's a nice bit of wood! If you are keen to sell I'm interested.

[Luke Maddux]

I just realized I added extra zeros... 420kg and 340kg is what I meant to say.

Also, according to Wood Database, it can be even higher. They have it listed as 485kg/m^3.

Cheers,
Luke

[bench1holio]

That's Australian Red Cedar. It gets called Queensland Red Cedar pretty commonly, or just Red Cedar, sometimes Victorian Red Cedar if it's grown there.


Luke, Victorian Red Cedar refers to the period. No Red cedar was grown in Victoria, its distribution stops around Milton on the south coast of NSW.

[Goggomobile]

I don't have a good set of scales to measure an accurate density ... might go to the PO next week and get them to weigh ..... I have 2-3 more somewhere in the sheds ... have to dig them out.

My family come from Buladelah ( on the hwy between Taree and Tea Garden) what was the quality of the red Cedar like there ?

[markharrison]

I'm in Brisbane. If you are interested in parting with one of those, please send me a PM.

I'm thinking of boxes and the like, and I have a moderately large bandsaw :)

[rtyuiop]

I'm keen too - don't think you would have any trouble moving these along!

[CAG]

Well, considering the timber initially cut by the convicts around and north of Newcastle was sent to Sydney as a replacement for Mahogany (as used back in ol' Blighty), and it extended up through the mid-north coast, I would say that Buladelah was almost in the centre of Red Cedar territory.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

I would say that a fair price on the forums would be around $3500 - $4500 per cubic meter for that, particularly if it's a nice, dark, dense, tightly grained piece that's common to forest-grown, older cedar trees

Current price from Trend Timbers is $8400 per cube for good quality furniture grade. :oo:

Pricey, but not one single stick was rejected when I machined it yesterday for door rails & stiles, as compared to 10% reject rate for our std stuff.

[artful bodger]

Current price from Trend Timbers is $8400 per cube for good quality furniture grade. :oo:

Pricey, but not one single stick was rejected when I machined it yesterday for door rails & stiles, as compared to 10% reject rate for our std stuff.

Wow! according to my maths that's a bit over $19 a superfoot.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Ridiculous, isn't it?

Glad I wasn't the one footing that bill...