Port Orford Cedar vs Western Red Cedar?

[PAR]

The cedars are nice for small boat planking (tradisional), but usually too light for larger craft, say over 30' LOD. Spanish cedar is heavier and generally not used as planking stock on small boats, but a much better version of the species.

Black pine is even lighter then eastern white pine, making for fine spars of moderate length. In longer sticks (hollow of course) the spruces don't fair as well as more dense lumbers, like Douglas fur.

Rusty I'll drop you an email.

[Rusty Bucket]

Hey Alan, I don't intend to use the stuff in a boat but thought maybe somebody else might be interested. This poplar looks just like the stuff they have in the fancy wood dept. at Lowes. It's green and purple and has a nice dense feel, I'm going to make a picture frame for a print I just bought. A 1x6x8 of this stuff a Lowes was $17.10, does make nice railroad ties though. Here's what I did with the 2x6's, see picture, regards rusty

[alan white]

The green/purple stuff is a great wood for painted cabinetry, in any case. They use it a lot to core cabinet plywood.
Picture? I'll refresh--- looks like an edit.

alan

[Rusty Bucket]

Hey Alan, I don't know where the picture went, I tried to post it two different ways, first I tried to use attachments but couldn't open the window. I then just submitted the text and went back and tried to edit the picture in. That seemed like it worked but the picture seems to have vanished. I'll try again, regards, rusty........It worked this time.

[woodrat]

There is a guy in Port Townsend, WA who has a stash of nice OG PO cedar. He sometimes runs an ad in the back of Wooden Boat. PM me if you would like his contact info.

I have a portable sawmill and see all kinds of wood, but I rarely come across any PO cedar that is old, tight grain. It has a fatal root disease that gets most of it these days before it has a chance to get big. I do see a lot of Sitka Spruce in my neighborhood and occasionally some nice stuff, but all the clears I have right now are 7/8" thick boards that I set aside for skin on frame kayak building.

[alan white]

Originally Posted by Rusty Bucket

Hey Alan, I don't know where the picture went, I tried to post it two different ways, first I tried to use attachments but couldn't open the window. I then just submitted the text and went back and tried to edit the picture in. That seemed like it worked but the picture seems to have vanished. I'll try again, regards, rusty........It worked this time.

Looks like it just rolls out like a venetian blind! Thanks, Rusty. I miss a lot of responses until later, lke this one, and others (Bourbon Dolphin thread, e.g.), I can't get rid of!
Nice porch.

A.

[jchumphrey]

Originally Posted by alan white

The greener variety is a better wood from my experience. I've used poplar native to this area, and it is white and unfit for cabinet use. Too bad because I own hundreds of trees, which grow like weeds here in Maine.
I would be very careful to choose a poplar for boat use, as there is an obvious difference between one type and another. Maybe it's a slower growing poplar that does better. As I said, they grow fast here and a good windstorm will always leave a few splitting somewhere halfway up the trunk.
As far as suseptability to rot, I do not know. Encapsulated wood is not prone to exposure.
I do know that I would choose spruce over poplar for lightness. I would guess from experience that some poplars, particularly the greener colored stuff, weighs about 32-34 lbs per cubic foot. Spruce is not only light, but incredibly resistent to splitting. I chop wood and half the time the spruce has to be sawn down the middle because the maul won't split it as easily as oak or any other wood.
If mostly clear air dried 2x4s could be found, they would produce good strip stock. They would cost about $1.50 a board foot, waste factored in.
Eastern white spruce is also great spar material, lighter than fir and very resistent to splitting. Even debarked saplings make good masts. I plan to put up a few straight ones this year, let them dry in the barn.

Alan

While I know that this thread is a bit old, I just ran across it and feel that I should defend poplar somewhat. Poplar has a very wide sapwood that is very prone to rot but the very green heartwood is significantly less prone. I have seen barn beams in PA that are riddled with rot and powder post beetles in the sapwood but are still very solid and clear of infection in the heartwood. Perhaps this is the confusion between white poplar and green poplar.

[rwatson]

Originally Posted by Thomas Wick

Port Orford Cedar. I was qouted approx 600.00 for a 20' 4"by4", a full 4"by4"...

That works out to nearly $10,000 per cubic metre if my poor maths works out.

I could import some of the best boatbuilding timber in the world for $3000-$3500 per cubic metre Australian.

There has to be some major mistake there - or I have found a whole new export business.

[TollyWally]

For what it's worth, I'm a builder/carpenter (more hammer than clipboard). Cedar prices are high and getting higher. I just bought 1 clear (almost) 4x4x10' for $50.00. In these parts high class cedar is available from gyppo mills out of the classifieds etc. a couple of weeks per month at relatively decent prices.

Nice material is nice to work with. At a certain point one must settle for copper over gold. That said, the price of the wood in the hull should be weighed against the whole. Sometimes an extra thousand here or there makes no difference in the long run. LOL, of course it doesn't seem that way when you are shelling out the dough!