Anyone know what this ‘Cedar Alternative’ is that US Blanks is supplying? I have gotten it on the last few batches that I ordered cedar stringers. It looks nice (really dark) and tools ok but doesn’t have the nice cedar aroma - it smells stongly of bar-b-que chips!
I aksed US Blanks what it was and this is the response ha! “It’s just a cedar substitution wood and it does smell like BBQ. There is no real name for the exact type of wood”
I don’t know what the name of that wood is.
Last time I ordered Cedar, that is what I got as well.
Cuts nice. Almost too nice.
Seemed kinda flexy as well.
And yes, it does have a burned wood odor.
Kinda like when you route out stringers with a dull bit.
I call it immitation crab.
Barbecue? Hickory?
Haha smoked stringer surfboards!. No wax just add BBQ sauce :).
30% mesquite 35% hickory and 35% Cherry. The perfect BBQ combo!
Shape glass and add sauce preferably a combo of Carolina, KC & Dog Town honey
Optional 6 pack Pabst blue ribbon!
No spec me suspect…
I had the same thing when i ordered the cedar, so on my last order I had to specify that i didn’t want the alternative. They call the “real cedar” as light cedar and the alternative stuff is the dark cedar. I kinda like it & i don’t. On the past ones I have glassed it was almost too dark & you couldn’t see the grain of the stringer which I like about the light cedar. The mystery continue…
…quite possibly mexican cedar , which is red cedar (cigar box cedar) plantation grown in Sth America…or , if it’s imported from Asia , it could be Malaysian surian.
Dammit, this would have been good to know last week when I ordered a 7-1A with the cedar stringer. They hit me with the $17 upcharge for it, too.
The traditional ‘‘cigar box cedar’’ is Spanish Cedar. Quite aromatic, in a pleasant way. I’ve used it on a few boards. Spendy, but very strong. Light in color, with close grain. Harder than Western Red Cedar.
here are a couple that i have done recently
I just made my first longboard yesterday with the 3/8" Cedar replacement shown above. I thought I was nuts that it smelled like a hot dog cookout on a campfire. Cleans up nicely with the trim plane.
Exactly. I worked for a cabinetmaking company some years ago that had a contract to make humidors for Nat Sherman Cigars. We had done a re-model of their main showroom in NYC and were asked to produce the humidors. All were lined with Spanish cedar.
I saved a bunch of scraps and made picture frames with it. Framed some of my old surf movie posters.
That stuff may very well be Spanish cedar. First thing that came to mind when I saw it.
I don’t know which type of cedar is used in stringers. There’s so many. Western red, aromatic, port orford, plain old white, Spanish, etc.
My guess is Western red is what’s been typically used. Has about the straightest grain you’ll find in cedar. I have not heard any talk of it being scarce or getting much more expensive than it already was.
My Canadian western red supplier told me that they are kiln drying to the point of near combustion, this kills the cells movement, any fungus and darkens the woods appearance. It does NOT plane as clean as non altered cedar, frays during planing. At first the smell was interesting, but after a couple of years now, it is almost annoying, and over powering smell that is irritating
Yes. Cedar is funny stuff. Tends to blow out and tear. Send it through a profiling cutter and it shreds. Used to ‘climb’ cut it, which is the opposite direction from normal feed.
I agree on the smell. In small doses it’s pleasant enough. But work with it for long periods and it gets old. I once did an 8 x 12 ft walk-in closet in aromatic cedar. Walls and ceiling. It was awful.
On the Harbour website, Rich Harbour refers to it as bbq cedar as well.
Here is his idea of what it is. To quote:
BBQ Cedar: This is a name that US Blanks has attached to a very dark colored wood that they are using in place of cedar or redwood. It most likely is color-infused poplar that has a specific gravity of about .4.
If it is poplar you should be able to tell the minute you hit it with a hand plane Lowel
I tried the new dark wood,Smells weird and a bit brittle, also too dark after glassing Its ok but… I like their real cedar much better… softer, nice grain , beautiful color … Wow !.. I got a real Redwood blank {triple stringer 2- 1/8" 1- 3/8"} the other day… Now that is some nice stuff…I am having a redwood glassed on fin to match … I had some old redwood I have been saving for years and that is what I am using on this beauty…I think my next board 7’9" EGG will also be redwood stringer 5/8 " , Nothing like it… Shapes great and looks better…But maybe I will use balsa 1 1/2 " still thinking lol. The best woods for me are… balsa, cedar and now redwood {bass is ok ] The plywood stringers don’t cut it for me… . I like Balsa and Redwood are the best Shapes great, flex and looks FANTASTIC ! I remember Al Merrick back in the 70’s loved using redwood for most all of his short boards . He said it has the flex but also the strenght ,Back in the day when you could get redwood All the big gun guys demanded it “Safety first” as they would say…
We’ve got a guy in Newport, Oregon called the “Cedar Guy” . Right on Hwy1 as you go thru town. Mostly out in the open. Lots of Cedar that he mills himself stacked and tarped. Beautiful stuff. He’ll cut and surface any size. Great stringers nd tailblocks. Lowel
Lowel -I am pretty sure I passed by it. But there’s atleast one more or so stores that offer wood type stuff on hwy 1. Beautiful coast up there !