North African / Lebanon Cedar Perth

[florry]

Hi,

I'm going to have to have an 80 year old North African Cedar / Cedar of Lebanon felled in the near future.

I think that the timber is reasonably rare and sought after? Is this correct?

What I would like to know is should I have the trunk and major limbs milled for wood work?

If I do, is there any specific cuts and lengths that are preferred?

Is the timber of more use if green? air dried? or kiln dried?

Any advice appreciated.

The tree itself has a trunk about 700 diameter and about 3 m high before it starts to thin. Overall the tree is about 15-20 metres high.

[Marginata]

Florry, get in touch with Burnsy before he gets in touch with you. Sounds like a great trunk and well worth milling.

[dai sensei]

Scott Horsburgh from this forum was after some in this thread (http://www.woodworkforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=88456)

[BobL]

Hi,
I think that the timber is reasonably rare and sought after? Is this correct?

Yes it is but Cedar is not really a first line timber. It is used mainly as a secondary timber for the inside linings of cupboards and chests. Boatbuilders really like to use it for inbuilt storage because it keeps insects away. It smells wonderful when milling it!


What I would like to know is should I have the trunk and major limbs milled for wood work? definitely.


If I do, is there any specific cuts and lengths that are preferred? It depends if you want to use or sell it. If you want maximum yield it should be milled with a bandsaw mill. Unless you have a specific use for it, I would suggest milling most of it into 200 x 25 mm wide boards and maybe some 38 x 200, and some 50 x 100. lengthwise it pays to keep it as long as you can within practical limits, no shorter than 2.4 m.


Is the timber of more use if green? air dried? or kiln dried?
It has to be used dry. Kiln drying adds little value unless you want to use it right away. It dries very quickly in WA - 1" boards will dry to usable MC over one summer.

It's quite brittle so it's very easy for your average tree lopper to make a mess of it taking it down. Do you have someone already lined up to have it taken down? If not drop me a PM.

[rod1949]

Is this one of those trees where people come in and take the leaves or whatever to get high on?

[florry]

Unless you have a specific use for it, I would suggest milling most of it into 200 x 25 mm wide boards and maybe some 38 x 200, and some 50 x 100. lengthwise it pays to keep it as long as you can within practical limits, no shorter than 2.4 m.

I've seen some of it being sold as axial split log sections for wood-turning - I guess that would be from the major limbs? I saw dimensions of 400x400 meaning from a branch with 400 diameter? Any idea what the smallest diameter would be useful in this application?


It's quite brittle so it's very easy for your average tree lopper to make a mess of it taking it down.That is part of the reason it's coming down - it tends to snap branches unexpectedly in still air from the weight of the needles and cones - and it's in a location where that can hurt people and property.

[florry]

Is this one of those trees where people come in and take the leaves or whatever to get high on?

No. But they are used as a source of essential oil.