# Have I ruined this beautiful Central Texas mountain juniper post?



## cedartista (Sep 14, 2015)

This may be a regional thing, but here in Central Texas we have stuff called cedar, or more accurately mountain juniper. I am using them in tree form for posts to add a deck around a little hundred year old house. They are first stripped of bark, and in this case we had to strip it out in 100 degree weather. I've never done this at this time of year before, and since we were not ready to put it up, simply left it in the trailer. I was noticing checking, so turned it over to make sure it was drying evenly. Then I moved it to the shade. It is a particularly fine post so want to use it anyway, but some of the cracks seemed pretty deep. I am wondering if I can reduce the damage from too much heat so soon after harvesting. We cut it down a day or so before stripping it, so it was fresh. So if anyone is familiar with this...so appreciate the input. Will probably live with it if I screwed up, but maybe there's a way to restore moisture, or something I can do. It is mainly heartwood so doubt it is a structural issue. Maybe just an aesthetic one.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Did you coat the ends with paraffin or anchor seal? The wood needs to be dried but if you leave the ends raw it will dry too fast and crack. The ends should be coated as soon as possible after the tree is cut.


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## cedartista (Sep 14, 2015)

Steve Neul said:


> Did you coat the ends with paraffin or anchor seal? The wood needs to be dried but if you leave the ends raw it will dry too fast and crack. The ends should be coated as soon as possible after the tree is cut.


No, and never have. Normally, this is not an issue..but like I said, never before have I stripped them in the dead of summer. 

I need to make a final cut at the base, so would have new cut to coat it if it would help. I also wondered about spraying it down, maybe water or something else?, and leaving it in the shade. Do you know if this procedure would do any good?


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Watering the log and putting it in the shade would slow down the drying process. I've seen saw mills water logs. I saw one once in the dead of winter watering logs and it looked like a winter garden with ice all over everything.

It's just a common practice to coat the ends of logs when you cut a tree down. It stops a lot of the end checking. You sure wouldn't want to cut it to a finished length and coat it.


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## cedartista (Sep 14, 2015)

Steve Neul said:


> Watering the log and putting it in the shade would slow down the drying process. I've seen saw mills water logs. I saw one once in the dead of winter watering logs and it looked like a winter garden with ice all over everything.
> 
> It's just a common practice to coat the ends of logs when you cut a tree down. It stops a lot of the end checking. You sure wouldn't want to cut it to a finished length and coat it.


So you're saying not much a person can do at this point? I don't know how long it will be before putting in place... maybe a week or more.

It's in the shade more or less now...could still spray it down and maybe get some rebound of the tissue? BTW..are you familiar with Texas juniper wood?


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

If you were only going to way a week or so to install it I wouldn't do anything. Generally wood takes a year per inch thickness to air dry so a week or so is a drop in the bucket.


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## Tennessee Tim (Dec 15, 2010)

Im not familiar with your cedar drying characteristics BUT I believe the extra trailer heat caused the most damage due to being even hotter than normal AND being "green"....until below 25% MC most woods are easily damaged if MC is changed quickly. 
Will the splitting add character or destroy the wanted look???

Is the use of fresh green cut wood a common practice??? It doesn't line up with most building practices BUT exterior has it's own building guidelines.


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## cedartista (Sep 14, 2015)

Tennessee Tim said:


> Im not familiar with your cedar drying characteristics BUT I believe the extra trailer heat caused the most damage due to being even hotter than normal AND being "green"....until below 25% MC most woods are easily damaged if MC is changed quickly.
> Will the splitting add character or destroy the wanted look???
> 
> Is the use of fresh green cut wood a common practice??? It doesn't line up with most building practices BUT exterior has it's own building guidelines.


I've stripped and used cedar posts for over 20 yrs, and never really had a problem with them if the heart wood was good. The only hesitation I normally have is if it deteriorates due to some other factor. There's good cedar and junk..pretty much from the get go if you know what you are looking at. But that is a good question about whether it should go up immediately or not. I don't think the checking will hurt the look in the long run...just mad at myself for not moving it into the shade sooner.


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