Seven Part Series on the properties of Different Lumber Used for Outdoor Furniture

Part Three of Seven: Redwood for Picnic Tables, Other Outdoor furniture and Garden Products

Redwood is a naturally beautiful soft wood with a straight grain, and a deep Red Brown color.  Although easy to dent, and having a high knot density, Redwood remains a highly cherished lumber.  This may be due to its limited availability, its ease being worked with hand tools, its lack of reaction with iron fasteners, or its resistance to insects and deterioration.

Redwood has low shrinkage, and warping, and it is very easy to nail, but the nails, and screws pull out easily.  It is considered a long lasting and durable wood that ages beautifully, but it does require care to work with as it splinters and bruises easily.

It is used for light construction, decks, and furniture (using nuts and bolts, not screws and nails). Most people find the Redwood aroma to be pleasant, however, as with Western Red Cedar, the aroma may cause respiratory problems in some people.

The Redwood tree’s official name is Sequoia or Sequoiadendron giganteum for the giant Redwood, and it is a sub species of the Cypress family. In fact the Giant Redwood is the world’s tallest tree with an average height of 50-85 meters tall with a 6-8 meter diameter.  Record trees can be as tall as 94.8 meters and 17 meters in diameter and can be as much as 3,500 years old.

Shoreline Cedar - Part Three of Seven

Seven Part Series on the properties of Different Lumber Used for Outdoor Furniture

Part Two of Seven: Western Hemlock (Hem-FIR) for Picnic Tables, Other Outdoor furniture and Garden Products

Western Hemlock also called Pacific Hemlock (the name I’m most familiar with), or sometimes “West Coast Hemlock”, scientific name: Tsuga heterophylla grows along the pacific coast East to the Western Cascades and from as far South as central California, North to Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula.

Western Hemlock generally grows 150 to 180 feet tall and has a diameter of 24” to 48”, although the old growth can be significantly larger, the largest diameter recorded was 108” and the tallest Western Hemlock was 259 feet

The lumber options are available primarily in structural grade (it is great for construction framing), but appearance and other grades are available. Western Hemlock is Slightly Below the Douglas Fir-Larch species combination as far as strength goes, and is stronger than the Spruce-Pine-Fir and the Douglas Fir species combinations and Pine. Western Hemlock is useful for a multitude of general-purpose applications, including Picnic Tables and other outdoor furniture applications, especially when treated, and is capable of meeting reasonable distance spans for construction.

Western Hemlock can be treated for use when it will be in contact with the ground or for above ground use.  There are both oil based and water based preservatives that can be used.  The water based preservatives are preferred, both for environmental reasons, and potentially for health reasons. These leave a clean, dry, odorless surface ready to be painted or stained.

Western Hemlock is an inexpensive wood preferred for use in construction, primarily for framing, but it is also used for furniture. it is fairly easy to work using both hand or machine tools, it does not have an over abundance of resin pockets, its resistance to splitting.

Shoreline Cedar - Part Two of Seven
 

Seven Part Series on the Properties of Different Lumbers used for Ourdoor Furniture

Part One of Seven: Pine for Picnic Tables & Other Outdoor Furniture and Garden Products

Western Yellow Pine or as it is called in Canada, British Columbian Soft Pine, is one of the most common timbers to be used in the construction industry in the United States. Second only to Hem-Fir (Western Hemlock - Number two in the series).  It grows primarily in the Western United States and Western Canada.

Western Yellow Pine can be treated for use when it will be in contact with the ground or for above ground use.  There are both oil based and water based preservatives that can be used.  The water based preservatives are preferred, both for environmental reasons, and potentially for health reasons. These leave a clean, dry, odorless surface ready to be painted or stained.

Western Yellow Pine is a soft wood that is very easy to work with, is inexpensive, and has a large number of uses including fencing, paneling, framing, and furniture. Pine is easy to work using both hand or machine tools and Craftsmen appreciate its lack of resin pockets, its resistance to splitting, and its even cell structure.

When treated it is used for picnic tables, benches, fences, arbors, planters, sheds, play structures, decking, deck railings, and other outdoor products and furniture.  Untreated, Western Yellow Pine is suitable only for indoor use, but it makes great tables, night stands, and dressers and when left in log form, it provides a beautiful rustic log furniture look.

Shoreline Cedar - Part one of Seven

As Promised, the differences between Western Red and Northern White Cedar

Western Red Cedar (scientific name: Thuja Plicata) differs from Northern White Cedar (scientific name: Thuja Occidentalis) in a number of ways. From a "tree" perspective, the Western Red Cedar is a much larger tree, by this I mean is has a larger diameter than the smaller Northern White Cedar trees. Other "Tree" differences include the leaf color, cone appearance, and geographic regions of growth; most of the Northern White Cedar comes from Canada.

The wood from both trees differs as well, Western red Cedar has a reddish color while Northern White is more of a yellow, beige, off white color. Western Red Cedar has that wonderful aromatic cedar smell; While Northern White Cedar also has a pleasant aromatic smell that some people prefer. In both cases, the odor will disappear if the wood is dried at moderate to high temperatures.

Western Red Cedar is a wonderful species, with the grain being very straight. The wood splits easily so it is commonly used for split rail fencing, shakes and split singles. Western Red Cedar is light weight (24 lbs per cu ft) and so it is not considered to be exceptionally strong, like Oak, but because it has little shrinkage and very little warping, it is easy to work with and is the preferred wood of choice for outdoor furniture and garden structures. It has very high natural decay resistance. The wood has a characteristic odor, but as mentioned previously, the odor does disappear if the wood is dried at moderate to high temperatures.

From a genetic perspective, Eastern White Cedar is a close relative of Western red cedar, however, because the white cedar tree is much smaller the lumber is quite knotty, compared to the clear lumber of red cedar. The wood is light weight (21 lbs per cu ft) and so is weaker than red cedar by a considerable amount. The grain is straight; shrinkage is low; and splitting is easy. The decay resistance is very high with Eastern White Cedar as well. Although in general the decay resistance of the two trees are similar, The heartwood (or core) of the tree is the best decay resistant part of the tree. The white cedar will normally have the heartwood of the tree in nearly 100% of your lumber pieces because of its smaller size while the Western Red Cedar may have the tree heartwood in about 10-20% of the lumber because it is much larger in diameter.

Shoreline Cedar uses both Western Red Cedar and Canadian Northern White Cedar in our outdoor products. The properties of both lend themselves well to creating long lasting, beautiful, outdoor products. Our Rustic series of products is made from Northern White Cedar and has the rustic log appearance which is well suited for Northern White Cedar. We use Western Red Cedar for all of our other products due to many considerations, one of which is the strength of the wood.


Western Red versus Northern White Cedar

Coming Soon . . . The difference between Western Red Cedar & Northern White Cedar

As requested by one of our long time customers, Next week we will discuss the diffeerences between Northern White Cedar and Western Red Cedar. Come back soon and be sure to follow us!

Check out our new logo!

Check out our new Shoreline Cedar logo!  We like it and hope you will too!  Although our original logo featured an artistic rendition of a Western Red Cedar Tree that was located in our favorite camping area near Leavenworth, Washington, we continued to receive numerous questions as to why our logo contained an "Oak Tree" if our name was Shoreline Cedar?

So to eliminate any future confusion, we have redesigned our logo, using the same style as our original logo, but we significantly restructured the tree to give it that more traditional Western Red Cedar look.

We also made some changes to our website banner.  So please take a look and let us know what you think!



Shoreline Cedar

Just discovered Technorati - a search engine for Blogs!

Thanks to another one of our long time customers, we just got turned on to Technorati.  It is a search engine for Blogs.  By listing our site, our customers and potential customers can now find us much easier.  Thank you Marnie for the heads up!