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Several years ago I had a project involving some cedar poles so I got some from the woods and planned them down to pure heart wood. This is Eastern Cedar not the Western Aromatic kind. So as I have this stuff laying around I thought it would be good to use for a start to get back into turning. I have not done any in many years. Is Cedar a decent material to work with?? I have several poles in the shop that are 5-6 inches thick at the base of pure heart wood.

whiskerfish wrote:Several years ago I had a project involving some cedar poles so I got some from the woods and planned them down to pure heart wood. This is Eastern Cedar not the Western Aromatic kind. So as I have this stuff laying around I thought it would be good to use for a start to get back into turning. I have not done any in many years. Is Cedar a decent material to work with?? I have several poles in the shop that are 5-6 inches thick at the base of pure heart wood.

It turns well.

I have yet to unnerstan why the western ceder(light brown) is referred to as 'aromatic' and the stinky eastern variety(purple) is not.

Thank you! This stuff is smelly but it seems like after just a couple of days after a fresh cut the smell really goes away not like the Western variety?????

I have never turned true cedar (Thuja family), but I have turned "aromatic cedar" which is really juniper (juniperus family).
It is a soft wood that turns easily. Splitting can be a problem with juniper because it usually has lots of loose knots.
I also have splitting and breakage problems with juniper when I plane it because of the knots.

I turned a few handles with the "smelly" red cedar, it was strong while cutting and turning. Wonderful smell, but it fades after a few days in the shop maybe because of the amount of air it gets. Of course after I sprayed a finish, its hardly aromatic at all.

whiskerfish wrote:Thank you! This stuff is smelly but it seems like after just a couple of days after a fresh cut the smell really goes away not like the Western variety?????

It depends on a persons sense of smell. To me Western cedar doesn't smell but I sure can taste it. Best described as a pecky taste. I can vividly remember this taste from chewing on wood pencils in school. Most wood lead pencils are made from Wester cedar. Remember the Ticonderoga yellow pencils??

charlese wrote:It depends on a persons sense of smell. To me Western cedar doesn't smell but I sure can taste it. Best described as a pecky taste. I can vividly remember this taste from chewing on wood pencils in school. Most wood lead pencils are made from Wester cedar. Remember the Ticonderoga yellow pencils??

I do remember the 'taste as well as the graphite/cedar sharpener smell. Much more subtle than the Juniper.

I will take yer word for the 'pecky' taste. I have never tasted pecks!:D

JPG40504 wrote:I do remember the 'taste as well as the graphite/cedar sharpener smell. Much more subtle than the Juniper.

I will take yer word for the 'pecky' taste. I have never tasted pecks!:D

I always claimed that they bleached pencil sharpener shaving white and labeled the container as "Dried grated coconut" and sold it so people could ruin cakes and pies by sprinkling it all over them...


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robinson46176 wrote:I always claimed that they bleached pencil sharpener shaving white and labeled the container as "Dried grated coconut" and sold it so people could ruin cakes and pies by sprinkling it all over them...


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Dried grated coconut. That what 'pecks' taste like?

Well at any rate this stuff turned beautifully. A few small chips when I got too aggressive and some splintering where it had a some cracks but overall it produce a very nice finished product. And the shop smells Lovely