# Cedar help please



## MissouriOutdoors88 (Sep 22, 2014)

I've just started gettin into woodworking and started with a few cedars the other day. I have a bunch that are on their last legs and need to be removed from a healthy woodland anyway. I cut a couple of them and debarked the same day. Came back the next day and had several longitudinal cracks. Should I leave the bark on longer before peeling? Seal the ends? They were 3-4 inches diameter. 

Also, I posted pics of one of the many walnut trees on my property over in the general woodworking section. Let me know wha you think. 

Thanks!


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## MissouriOutdoors88 (Sep 22, 2014)

Anyone?


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## Tennessee Tim (Dec 15, 2010)

I've never seen that happen in red cedar....but usually 3-4 inch cedars are burnpile material for me. As for sealing the ends....it slows the drying process in the end grain and mostly for saw lumber/logs. I have a pile of cedar saw logs that were taken down and cut to sawlog length in March with NO cracks/splits. They range from 5-12"....but I also have the tops (we call shavers) that are 4" and less with NO splits.


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## MissouriOutdoors88 (Sep 22, 2014)

Were they cut to dimensional lumber immediately after being cut down?


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## Tennessee Tim (Dec 15, 2010)

NO..I didn't cut to dimensional lumber...Those are small logs to me...it usually takes 24"+ for me to get interested BUT I don't waste the smaller parts IF I take any of it.

There's a cedar mill near me that I will take these to. I'm cleaning up an area on my farm in my spare time:blink::no::laughing::laughing: and those haven't gotten delivered....at his mill I don't see logs nor dimensional lumber with splits and it's unsealed ends.


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## nesandhlls (Dec 1, 2014)

I mill mostly all western red cedar cut. Most are 16 inch diameter or larger, I always attempt to mill them green. I will get some cracking/splitting in the milled boards but am able to glue the pieces and still use them.


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## ETWW (Mar 27, 2011)

Wood dries from the outside first. The shell dries and shrinks but the core is still wet and doesn't shrink. The shell is in tension while the core is compressed. Result, the wood pulls itself apart from the stress. That's why "cookies" are almost impossible to dry without cracking. Think of a log as a long cookie.

Leaving the bark on will slow down the shrinkage of the shell but once it is removed, it's still gonna shrink faster than the core which will result in those longitudinal cracks you are seeing. I doubt there is any way to prevent it in a log, no matter what size.


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## Post Oakie (Aug 20, 2013)

The cracking may be due to moisture moving out of the ends of the logs more quickly than the center, which causes the cracking you describe. Though the wood is too small for lumber, you might be able to use them to make rustic table legs, chair backs, that sort of thing.


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