Cutting Cedar

Post by **js11110** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 12:54 am

Hey everyone. My brother in law wants me to cut a oval house sign with a name and house numbers for one of his customers. He gave me a piece of cedar. I've never tried cutting cedar, but I figured I'd give it a shot. Well, the sign has the worst finish I have ever seen. It looks like someone cut it with a shovel! It just tears up when ever it cut cross grain. Any trick to this? Or should I just tell him to give up the cedar idea and get me a piece of hard wood? Any thoughts?

Jason

Post by **brockadeau** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 1:05 am

Jason-- I cut cedar all the time without problems-- 21000 rpms, 40 ipm, good sharp 90 degree bit and no problems at all-- maybe you have a bad piece of stock with shake damage-- try another piece if you can get one, before you give up-- Jack

Post by **dighsx** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 1:45 am

I've had mixed results with cedar. A lot depended on the piece of wood. I got some stuff that was like mush, and you couldn't get a good edge to save your life. But I had some nice dense piece that cut great. What's the grain like on your piece? How hard do you have to push to get your fingernail to make a mark? (The harder the better I've found)

Post a picture if you can, that always helps a lot.

Post by **js11110** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 2:04 am

This piece is really soft. I can allmost pull it apart with my hands. Its "stringy" for want of a better word. The only parts that came out nice was where the knots were. I'll try to post a picture of it tomorrow.

Jason

Post by **Jason Marsha** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 6:42 am

Jason,

That stringy stuff is just awful. In my friend's woodworking shop pieces like those are put on unseen parts of projects, absolutely no routing is done on this type of cedar. My friend explained to me its almost impossible to get a clean and consistent cut. As Jay indicated the harder the better.

Jason

Post by **dighsx** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 12:20 pm

I bet that's fencing grade cedar. I'm sure there's some technical term for it's grade but it's the stuff they use for outdoor vertical applications aka mushy stringy crap.

I just looked it up and I think it would be Grade D cedar. Here's the description "D Clear grade permits larger and more numerous natural characteristics which are widely accepted in the construction of outdoor structures. Some pieces of D Clear may require trimming to yield clear lengths for the intended use. Available surfaced or rough textured.”

That line about "more numerous natural characteristics” translates to "Splits more then 40 inches long, knots are the only thing holding it together, and babies could karate chop this wood in half"

Post by **js11110** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 9:19 pm

[quote="D Clear grade permits larger and more numerous natural characteristics which are widely accepted in the construction of outdoor structures. [/quote]

Well then, that makes sense, my brother in law is a carpenter and I bet it was left over from a construction job. Thanx for the input!

Jason