Red Cedar

**double.d** · 4th July 2018, 07:54 PM

Some months ago i made a box for Russ to keep his antique pistol and at the time he said he had some Red Cedar stored in Sydney from a house he had restored and asked if i was interested and obviously i said yes.
He contacted me last week to say he had the Cedar and had 2 x 330 x 55 x 900 and 1 x 190 x 35 x 1800 and he wanted 6k per cube which worked out to $460. If the timber was the the right colour i was prepared to pay his price but offered $400 on proviso that i see it first, so on the weekend i went to his house only to find 3 boards that had once been a door jamb and had nail holes, rebates and striker holes along with various quantities of paint layers. I was at that point ready to pass it up but i had my hand plain with me so i cleaned a bit of the back on one board and it was the colour i was looking for and the clincher was the fact that the house was built in 1830 so i knew it was real old growth timber. I made another much lower offer and he was prepared to part with it so i loaded it up.
Once i got it home i couldn't wait to explore so i picked the best of the three pieces and attacked the paint and soon found out the a chisel and plane were not up to the task so i put on a breathing mask (i figured it was lead paint) and got to it with a grinder which made quick work of the face but i left the edge alone cause it had the striker hole and i was going to rip the 50mm off it. I put an old rip blade in the saw and within 100mm i heard the zing of a nail being cut. On closer inspection i found some hand made nails that had been bent over hammered into the edge so with chisel and pliers i went through and removed them.

I then trimmed the ends and ripped the board to get a good clean blank

There were 4 big nail hole 350mm in from one end so i trimmed that of and on request from Russ decided to make him a little box as a keepsake.
I was so happy with the timber, it is the real Red Cedar i have been after for many years and i had a feeling there might be a good story behind it so i asked Russ to tell me a bit about it and the following is an explanation in his own words.

Originally named the 'Victoria Inn' it was built in East Maitland NSW around 1837 by Samuel Clift for his son George. Samuel was a 'ticket of leave man' having been transported to NSW (not sure why) He went on to become a prominent land holder in the area and the family prospered well. There were tales of a workman at the property named Ben Hall who married a local servant girl and together they produced the 'Ben Hall' of bush ranger infamy. The inn was later renamed 'Roseneath' probably because of the extensive rose gardens that were planted around the property. Jan and I started the massive task of renovating the place in 1999, as well as operating a cafe we called 'Anoushkas' (after our daughter) from the downstairs dining area. We eventually sold Roseneath after 16 years, and today it is back operating as 'The Old Victoria'! (google the website) All of the woodwork within the house is Cedar most of which had been painted white during the 70's and took an age to strip! Upstairs there are huge Cedar panels that can be removed to form a ballroom.

I used the 350mm offcuts to make this box for Russ and and there was enough left over to make a similar larger one for myself. I plan to produce something special with the remainder of the timber.

The photos don't do it justice as the timber glows, has i nice even colour and machines and sands like no other Cedar i have used.

**rwbuild** · 4th July 2018, 08:16 PM

Excellent.
Is it possible to change the screws in the hinges to slotted in keeping with the history of the cedar?

**MAPLEMAN** · 4th July 2018, 08:35 PM

DD...Lovely box mate...B.T.W $267.84 is my calculation for the 3 boards at $6000m3...MM

**Bendigo Bob** · 4th July 2018, 09:28 PM

Yep, lovely stuff. Got a few bits myself and waiting for something special (heart special) to do with it. Used part of it to make into small frames for my Aunt who gave me the pieces. Great stuff to work.

**KeithP** · 4th July 2018, 09:49 PM

DD lovely box and nice story about the timber. Red Cedar is one of my favorite timbers, and like others I have a few pieces saved for that special project.

Regards
Keith

**Pauls321** · 4th July 2018, 11:01 PM

Very nice box there Double.d, nice workmanship.

Paul

**Chris Parks** · 4th July 2018, 11:49 PM

I have got a red cedar table top, very old and a fair bit of surface damage but it only cost me $2 so I didn't argue. I too have been trying to work out what I can make with it and a box seems to be about it at the moment.

**Fumbler** · 5th July 2018, 09:01 AM

Russ is lucky, first you buy the timber which was mis-represented, then nearly tear up your tools in the process of cleaning and process. Then he gets a box out of it too.

i would've made the box containing the nail holes to remind him that you nearly lost something.

In the nicest possible way I might suggest u invest in a metal detector. I don't run any reclaimed timber over machinery with out zapping first.

nice job by the way.

**artme** · 5th July 2018, 10:36 AM

All that trouble and you still manage to produce a very fine box!! Well done!!

**double.d** · 5th July 2018, 04:15 PM

Originally Posted by rwbuild

Excellent.
Is it possible to change the screws in the hinges to slotted in keeping with the history of the cedar?

Good point there. I am trying to get some matching pan head screws for these hinges from the supplier but the language barrier is a problem so i dare not ask for slotted.

**double.d** · 5th July 2018, 04:17 PM

Originally Posted by MAPLEMAN

DD...Lovely box mate...B.T.W $267.84 is my calculation for the 3 boards at $6000m3...MM

Well thanks Chris, lucky i only paid $250 for it then

**double.d** · 5th July 2018, 04:29 PM

Originally Posted by Fumbler

Russ is lucky, first you buy the timber which was mis-represented, then nearly tear up your tools in the process of cleaning and process. Then he gets a box out of it too.

i would've made the box containing the nail holes to remind him that you nearly lost something.

In the nicest possible way I might suggest u invest in a metal detector. I don't run any reclaimed timber over machinery with out zapping first.

nice job by the way.

I thought about a detector but the blade needed sharpening so i took the gamble and the nails were very soft so no damage was done.

I kept the nails for whatever reason so i will put them in the box when i give it to him.

**Bendigo Bob** · 5th July 2018, 08:09 PM

Originally Posted by Fumbler

In the nicest possible way I might suggest u invest in a metal detector. I don't run any reclaimed timber over machinery with out zapping first.

nice job by the way.

Reminds me, i need to find a decent one. The cheapy from Carbatec was a dud.

**Tccp123** · 5th July 2018, 09:28 PM

Originally Posted by Bendigo Bob

Reminds me, i need to find a decent one. The cheapy from Carbatec was a dud.

If the cheapy you bought is this one:

metal detector.JPG

I have some good news and bad news. The bad news is they can be bought on eBay from China for $15 (now that's REALLY cheap) but the good news is they can be made to work by replacing the battery with a 9 volt DC wall wart. I had exactly the same problem with mine but after replacing the battery it's worked really well. It doesn't miss any metal and I now rely on it exclusively.

**Bendigo Bob** · 5th July 2018, 10:22 PM

When you say 9v DC wall wart you mean like a transformer/charger? I'm guessing you solder the lead onto where the battery terminal is?

Wondering why that would make a difference, but willing to give it a go. What amperage is your transformer if I may ask?

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