Working with home center cedar

[J. Z. Guest]

I just bought a load of cedar lumber from Menards to build an adirondack loveseat. (from plans in American Woodworker)

I have a couple of questions:

1) I have stacked & stickered them in my garage. At Menards, they were stacked but not stickered, and lots of them feel pretty damp. I'm wondering if it is because it is cedar and there is still some oil or chemical in it or if it really just is damp?

2) Will two weeks in the stack be enough?

3) The plans say that they used home center lumber. The tools they recommend are: table saw, bandsaw (or jigsaw), and a cordless drill. (miter saw as handy option) They don't mention a jointer, yet a lot of the photos show boards that appear to be fresh from the jointer. They don't mention anything about jointing wood either, but do talk about ripping it. That seems kind of risky to me, though this wood is a lot straighter than the stud 2x4 stuff I've seen. (as well it should be for $13 a board!)

[Stephen Edwards]

Jeremy,

What species of cedar do you have? I've worked a lot with what's typically called eastern red cedar. I don't know much about western cedar, having worked very little with it.

[J. Z. Guest]

I don't know, it just says cedar. Being in the Chicago area, I assume it is Eastern cedar of some type.

[Jesse Cloud]

Home center lumber isn't usually protected much from the elements (look at the stacks behind the store sometime) and this cedar may have been rained on or stored in a really humid place. I'll bet there's another creeker in Chicagoland with a moisture meter. Borrow that and wait until you get to a decent moisture level. Test some wood that has been in your shop for a while and wait for the cedar to get to the same level.

Otherwise, when you rip, its gonna warp.

[Stephen Edwards]

I don't know, it just says cedar. Being in the Chicago area, I assume it is Eastern cedar of some type.

If it's eastern red cedar it'll have a pinkish color to it under the weathered surface, might even have purple and or white streaks in it. The sap wood will be white, possibly with grey streaks in that. The knots will be very dark, if it has knots. If it's eastern red cedar I can tell you about my experience with it.

If it's a light brown, tan or white color then it's some other kind of cedar and I can't tell you much about that.

You could sand a small area on the back of a piece to find out.

[Matt Ocel]

Jeremy -
IMHO I would worry more about the material being straight and less on moisture content.

I would build the chairs while the material is in good shape - no bows, twists, warps, its easier to work with.

I would let them season for a couple of months, clean them up, then use a good finish.

[J. Z. Guest]

Jeremy -
IMHO I would worry more about the material being straight and less on moisture content.

I would build the chairs while the material is in good shape - no bows, twists, warps, its easier to work with.

I would let them season for a couple of months, clean them up, then use a good finish.

Matt, a couple of clarifications:

To your first paragraph, it is straight now. To your second paragraph, it is in good shape now. But it feels moist.

But then, in your last paragraph, you say to wait a couple months. It seems like if I wait a couple months, it may not be straight any more.

I'm also thinking about my shop conditions and how much I can expect the wood to dry out. My "shop" is really my garage, and this time of year in Chicagoland, it is warm & dry half the time, (maybe 40% humidity) and warm & humid the other half. (maybe 85-90% humidity) So I don't think it will ever reach the ideal 8% humidity while seasoning in my shop.

I had read elsewhere (in a Bob Moran woodworking book I think) that one should wait at least two weeks, but around here, people usually consider no less than two months. That puts me at the end of the summer before I can even start.

[Matt Ocel]

Jeremy -

Thats why I would build your chairs now, when the material is in good "working" shape.

After you cut, assemble, and fastened you chairs together the material will stay rather stable.

Your moisture content may be high and as the chairs sit out in the sun the joints will open a bit, (with cedar this cannot be avoided) the cedar will dry out then clean them up and apply your finish. They'll look good for years.

Once again IMHO.

please note - the longer that material sits in your garage "drying out" the more it will warp, twist, bend, cup, well you know.

[Jack Camillo]

Matt,
do you think it's necessary to wait a while before finishing? I'm in the process of building a pergola with western red cedar. The boards aren't "wet," but i could see the moisture in the 6x6 posts. I was thinking about sealing as soon as I'm done building. Bad idea?

[Matt Ocel]

Jack -

Yeah - I would defineatley let it sit out in the sun a couple of months, let it dry out.

Then you can take the proper steps to finish it.

Your patience will be rewarded!

[Clara Koss]

matt ocel seems to have the right idea about working with your cedar... it makes more sense to do the work now that the wood is straigh and in good shape rather than have it dry out , warp and separate...once the piece is made it should hold it's shape while it dries and after it is dry seal it... good luck...

[Jack Camillo]

Thanks Matt. This is my first wr cedar project. An amazing wood, it is. Glad I caught your posts. Cao.
jack

[Peter Quinn]

I wouldn't worry about cedar for an out door adirondack chair or love seat being either perfectly dry or perfectly straight. I wouldn't try to hold that wood to the same standards you would hold fine furniture grade hard woods. I haven't seen those particular plans but the adirondack style is a pretty casual one and most chairs in that style are not fussy pieces filled with complicated precise jointery.

As far as being dry, do you plan to rush them into conditioned space each time the humidity goes up or it rains? I'm guessing they'll get wet some time, probably move a bit, possibly check here and there, and then look even more lovely for the wear.

I've been guilty of approaching out door building projects with the same mindset as finer shop work and it is often more of a hinderance than a help to me to do so.

[J. Z. Guest]

Thanks a lot fellas. That's what I'll do then. It has been stacked in my garage for a couple days now, and that will have to do.

The plans call for counterboring the deck screw holes, and gluing plugs in, but I don't think I'm going to do that either. I want to be able to snug up the screws later, if the need should arise.

Thanks also for the tip on letting it sit out for a while before finishing. I would not have done that otherwise.

[Jeff Heil]

If you haven't work with cedar before, I would recommend using SS screws, they won't give you black streaks when exposed to the elements like metal or even coated deck screws do.