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red cedar question

3K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  mully537 
#1 ·
a while back i bought a cedar 4x4 from homies and cut it into plug sized pieces. upon finish sanding i can still feel ridges along the grain. while im sure you wont notice them after painting and epoxy, i worry that it after time will peel or flake along these ridges ,i have never seen this before as i have until now only used ayc,mahog, and pine for plugs. i am attaching a pic to try to show what im talking about. Wood Tool Gas Natural material Engineering
 
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#4 ·
My experience......which isn't much, a couple of months or so doing this.....is much the same as yours, the wood is so soft, so wide grained, that to get it really round, the only thing I found that worked was turning to a much larger size than I was looking for and sanding down with finer and finer paper till it was about the right size. I'm no wood expert, but all wood seems to be made up of layers, the grain lines, and the wood in between the grain lines....the WRC seems to have hard grain lines and very sofy wood between the grain lines, and this softer wood leaves before the grain lines do.
Don't get me started on the end grain..... :confused2:
I made some small surfsters out of the WRC, and they came out alright, but the combination of the softness and the dust that drives me nuts, I'll stick to AYC and white cedar, which seems to be plentiful enough around me.
Maybe there are different grades of red to choose from? I noticed a difference just between the pieces I got, with some of them being much more open than others. :BenNudd:
 
#5 ·
Age of the tree and the closer the piece is cut to the center determines how tight the grain is. As a tree matures the older rings compress. The outer rings or wain are wider because this the main arterial rings, thus softer. if you can choose you lumber in the yard look for the center cut of the tree. You will see a distinct circle in the center, usually very dark brown.
 
#6 ·
i gotta big pile of the stuff gunny ,so i probably will use it up. but like ed said i think i might stick with some of the other stuff ive been using unless my source runs out.but ill keep trying and get a few finished up and see how they hold up. thanks guys:cheers:
 
#7 ·
Different woods for different plugs....

Western red is the most boyant of the cedars, the heartwood finishes the best, the cambium layer, tends to be grainy, when using western red, add approx. 1/8" to your target diameter, start with #80, sand down to #320... it should be as smooth as a babies bottom...
 
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