What Wood – Cedar – this is beautiful Softwood

What Wood – Cedar – Most people will have heard of Cedar. It is a popular wood for cladding, fencing, decking and outdoor furniture.  The tree is coniferous so it is considered a softwood and the wood is indeed quite soft. It scratches and dents easily and has less mechanical strength than the hardwoods we commonly use.  On the other hand, it is very light and extremely resistant to rot.

Historically, cedar was used a lot for clothes chests and lining wardrobes, as it is naturally repellent to moths. While not so important to us now, the smell of cedar is still extremely pleasant and using it as a drawer box is a great application. I also think it makes a good choice for a solar roof box, where it can be left outside and last or many years, even untreated. 

Cedar – Treated or Untreated

Left untreated, cedar will turn a lovely silver grey. This can be postponed by using a protective oil, particularly one with a UV protective element to it.  The natural colour of cedar is a pinky red.  It is kind of the colour I would expect redwood pine to be (redwood pine is yellow and looks like pine, no red to it).  Both it’s natural colour and weathered colour are quite attractive, and it can be considered a low maintenance wood. 

The drawbacks of cedar, other than being soft, are it’s relatively poor dimensional stability and it’s cost. As it has a tendency to move with humidity/moisture content changes, it is not so well suited to fine furniture. It doesn’t sand up as nicely as some woods, and its softness means hard paint or varnish finishes are more liable to cracking. It does take an oil well.

Pros

• Extremely rot and insect resistant
• Light
• Attractive colour and weathers nicely
• Low maintenance
• Repels clothes moths
• Smells great

Cons

• Soft and weaker than other woods
• Expensive
• Not great for painting or varnishing
• Not suited to fine furniture