Eastern Red Cedar Logs

I'm to lazy for this but....

Basil

>... maybe you ain't.

They will stay outside in log form and not check to bad for a reasonable length of time, you've just about used up that time.

If they came from the butt end of the tree and don't have any signs of a limb (nice smooth, trunk sections), you might be able to split them in half. They will not split nice and straight like white oak or poplar but well enough to get you started cutting some boards. Split'em in half, hit'em a few licks with a hand plane, draw knife, something to sort of smooth the surface, chalk or draw straight lines the thickness of boards desired, run the largest cirle saw you got along the lines and then complete the cuts with a handsaw or bow saw.

Hay, a circle saw is a handsaw after all, it just happens to have a tail.

Basil

Re: Eastern Red Cedar Logs

William R. Duffield on the Cohansey

>Regarding the botanical nomenclature of Eastern redcedar, you got real close. I'll suggest some improvements. On the common names, for some strange reason, redcedar is one word, while-cedar is hyphenated, but since they are common names, it is not important. You should italisize the botanical name. You should capitalize the genus name but never the species name, and you need to make the case of the species name match the case of the genus name. That follows Latin gramatical rules, which I'm not going to get into here. The taxonomists are trained in Latin, so I just trust them to have gotten in right. If you want to get really picky, following the name, not italisized, you should provide the standard abbreviation for the tanonomist who first validly published the name.

So, what you have is Eastern redcedar, Juniperus virginiana L.

L. means Linnaeus, or Carl von Linn�, a very important 18th century botanist, who invented the system of binomial nomenclature.

Re: Eastern Red Cedar Logs

William Haun, Forest City, IA

>Misey whips, both the one and two person versions, are crosscut saws. You would want a rip saw.

Usually, eastern red cedar is knotty, and therefore would not split very straight. But at only 3 feet, and depending upon the how free of knots, I would split them in half. Then you could use a larger rip hand saw to saw boards out of the halves. Snap a chalk line down the log to give you a guide and go at it.

If they are knotty, you will have to use a saw to cut them in half. A gas powered chain saw will work well enough, and if you were going to have a Woodmiser come in, not much of a difference in straying from hand tools only. Don't worry about the kerf loss, right now, the whole log is lost. 8^) Get out of it what you can.

Re: Eastern Red Cedar Logs

Bob Hutchins in Central TX

>Howdy Sir William!

Well, on good days you learn something new. Today must be a very good day 'cause I learned that I've forgotten all the Latin I never knew. Never new redcedar was one word either, nor did I know that Linnaeus was the first one to describe the plant. However I DID know that it was 'sposed to be italicized but didn't know the markup to make it happen.

Thanks for the lesson.

Bobh

Thanks for the suggestions, guys!

Bob Hutchins in Central TX

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Re: Eastern Red Cedar Logs

Dirk Wright

>I'd use a large bow, or frame, saw to rip them using two people. The wood is not very hard, so should be easy to cut. The largest that I know of have 28" long blades. ECE and others make them, or you could just make one yourself.