Cedar, Love or hate?

[AnalogKid]

On my lot, I have tons of cedar. 90% of them are dead, either standing or laid over caught in some neighboring trees. I've been here since '07. An old timer who lives near me said that years back a disease came thru and all the cedar trees got sick and died.

When I have nothing else to harvest, I'll go out and buck and split one. It's ready to burn right out of the gates. I have about a half cord of cedar in my supply for this year, I am burning it now. I'll grab 3-4 splits, lay them in the bottom of the firebox, then fill the rest of it w/chunks and uglies. Makes a great fire. Lights off instantly, get hot in no time, then the hard woods take over and she just rolllllllllllllls.

 

[Bret Chase]

I've never burned cedar splits in my stove... clapboard and shingle waste does make great kindling tho..

 

[Bret Chase]

On my lot, I have tons of cedar. 90% of them are dead, either standing or laid over caught in some neighboring trees. I've been here since '07. An old timer who lives near me said that years back a disease came thru and all the cedar trees got sick and died.

When I have nothing else to harvest, I'll go out and buck and split one. It's ready to burn right out of the gates. I have about a half cord of cedar in my supply for this year, I am burning it now. I'll grab 3-4 splits, lay them in the bottom of the firebox, then fill the rest of it w/chunks and uglies. Makes a great fire. Lights off instantly, get hot in no time, then the hard woods take over and she just rolllllllllllllls.

Now I didn't see the trunks whole, but that would have made some pretty lumber...

 

[AmarilloSlim]

I had some cedar. (read had) I was happier than a kid at a gentlemans club. Not the best smelling wood but it ranks high in my book. I've got a 40+ foot western red cedar smack dab in the middle of my common fence that will need to come down in a few years. Hate to have it gone but I will cherish every burning minute.

 

[Ehouse]

A peeled cedar pole makes a good light, but strong hiking stave.

 

[bag of hammers]

A friend turned a bunch of cedar from his property into deck boards with a chain saw mill. Cedar posts with a rope railing. Very cool.

 

[tahoostas]

We have a huge 50' er just off our back deck. Every time i go past it in the summer i grab a handful of the green seed pods and squish them in my hands and rub it in. Smells amazing. Thinking of extracting that oil somehow next year to make my own custom cologne.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

I burnt a couple pieces in the insert last nite, I could smell it when I went outside, I freshly split it, it was at 15%, nice stuff to play around with for sure.....

 

[mass_burner]

On my lot, I have tons of cedar. 90% of them are dead, either standing or laid over caught in some neighboring trees. I've been here since '07. An old timer who lives near me said that years back a disease came thru and all the cedar trees got sick and died.

When I have nothing else to harvest, I'll go out and buck and split one. It's ready to burn right out of the gates. I have about a half cord of cedar in my supply for this year, I am burning it now. I'll grab 3-4 splits, lay them in the bottom of the firebox, then fill the rest of it w/chunks and uglies. Makes a great fire. Lights off instantly, get hot in no time, then the hard woods take over and she just rolllllllllllllls.

yes, that's the stuff i'm talking about. hairy bark, red inside. nice house btw, i little on the modern side for CT, isn't it?

 

[AnalogKid]

yes, that's the stuff i'm talking about. hairy bark, red inside. nice house btw, i little on the modern side for CT, isn't it?

Thank you. It is definitely atypical compared to all the big colonials, kind of one of the reasons I was attracted to it, that and the huge garage. I like colonials too, but this was different. It has a Frank Lloyd Wright flair to it.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Very nice. I once found a half moose rack while out in the sticks while walking to a lake. No luck finding the other half - probably a half mile away. My sister turned it into a planter on her porch.

That's neat. Here is a shed I found one day. I walked many miles looking for the other side but never found it.

 

[basod]

I did that with some other bushes (just used a saw to cut them out, should have yanked the roots out like you did). It didn't go over too well and I dare not repeat too soon... Now I am sure somewhere I can find a reference to these being damaging to the house because they are so close... or maybe there will be a dreadful accident of them breaking when the snow falls off the roof this winter?

Nah a well placed herbicide - and oh honey they have to come down now
just spray the trees in blotches they will look like hell in a couple weeks

 

[mass_burner]

Thank you. It is definitely atypical compared to all the big colonials, kind of one of the reasons I was attracted to it, that and the huge garage. I like colonials too, but this was different. It has a Frank Lloyd Wright flair to it.

For sure. We have a mid century modern built in 56 in a sea of colonial. Two car garage and full 8ft. Ceiling basement the whole footprint of the house. When i saw that I was sold.

 

[AnalogKid]

For sure. We have a mid century modern built in 56 in a sea of colonial. Two car garage and full 8ft. Ceiling basement the whole footprint of the house. When i saw that I was sold.

Yeah, my house was built in '62. The architect built it as his own place. Like yours, full walk-out basement the same footprint of the house. The exterior walls of my house are cement, which is really different. I have done a ton of work to the place since I bought it in '07.

My garage is a detached 5-6 car......

"Yeah, we'll take it!"

 

[PDXpyro]

Gotta finally chime in and opine that Western red-cedar is the finest kindling that we have commonly available in the NW. The straight-grained sections split beautifully into pencil-thin kindling, and somewhat larger pieces are great for accelerating a new fire. Ideally, I'd have about 10% cedar in the year's stacks for just such purposes.

 

[jatoxico]

I asked a similar question around this time last year. Sandy knocked down a pretty decent sized cedar and I was wondering since I had more oak than I could handle and was hoping it would make a good and quick seasoning shoulder season wood. Got varied responses but most thought it was worth the effort and I'm glad I did. It's perfect for this time of year and I'm enjoying it right now. The Gran Marnier (I spell that right?) ain't too bad either.

 

[BIGDADDY]

Now I didn't see the trunks whole, but that would have made some pretty lumber...

Great for lining closets too.