White Cedar?

[bbowers]

Last night at our carving club a member brought in some really impressive duck decoys. They were made to resemble old -antique type duck decoys. The wood was white cedar. To finish them they would torch or toast the outside of the entire carving and then rub or sand off the blank, then use acrylics to color. The burning left ridges because the grain of the wood is harder than the inbetween wood, so burning created the highs & lows. It really looked like old barn wood as it ages.
My question is what other types of wood has type of grain? I'd like to experiment with some other style carvings and this finish technique.

Thanks for your help!
Barry

[Anthony Filetti]

barry,
I have no personal knowledge of "White Cedar", however I have seen noted carver Rick Butz on PBS use "White Pine" and torch the softer wood to give it that antiqued look. Its also in one of his books..

Hope this is helpful.

[mdallensr]

You can get the same effect with sand or grit blasting. I've duplicated that effect on my old wooden deck after several strippings and cleanings with a powerful pressure washer. I'm guessing just about any soft wood (pine) would show that effect well.

[whitecree]

White cedar I think is also known as alsaka Cedar or yellow cedar.

Wester red cedar will also give you the same effect as you describe as the growth rings are not always evenly grown or of identical hardness.

To get the same effect in most woods, try using a wire brush on an electric drill or dremel/foredom. The wire brush will scoop out softer between-ring material, leaving ridges.

[bbowers]

Thanks for the responses - I'll give a couple of the ideas a try & see what I end up with. If it works out I'll be sure to share.

Barry

[wade clark]

The book, WOOD IDENTIFICATION & USE by Terry Potter lists 2 different trees as white cedar.
SOUTHERN WHITE CEDAR, also called Atlantic White Cedar and
PORT ORFORD CEDAR, also called Oregon White Cedar.
Southern has a Specific Gravity of .37
Port Orford has a S.G. of .48
Oak has a S.G. of .77
With a s.g. above 1.00 wood sinks in water, below 1.00 floats. The less s.g. the lighter and less dense, or softer, the wood.
Like other cedars, both weather well.
Southern is used on the outside of buildings, shingles, fence posts, railroad ties, canoes, once popular for log cabins.
Port Orford is used for boatbuilding, oars, canoe paddles, construction, furniture, decks, mine timbers.
Both polish well.
They're both very durable.
Either would be fun to carve, but might not hold detail well.
Softer pines, redwood, cedars and most other softer woods with clear rings/grain would work for "antiqued" decoys, but the s.g. is key, as decoys need to float at the right depth.
All cedars are great woods! soft, but great!
Wade

[bbeery]

I have always been told that cedar does not adapt to temperature change well; like being taken from inside temps to outside temps. It cracks under these conditions. No personal experience with it but have seen some very interesting walking sticks carved from cedar. The white outside layer and the red interior layer make for an interesting woodsprit!
Very soft and easy to carve.

[AlArchie]

Gotta add one more, Wade......Northern White Cedar or "Arbor Vitae". This is the stuff that grows around the Great Lakes. It carves well for walking sticks, but splits out easily when working with larger pieces, like any of the cypress family. Arbor Vitae splits easily, is used for kindling at most hunting camps, and was used for canoe building by the NA population, for frames of birch bark canoes. also made good paddles.

It does make good decoys, both waterfowl and fishing, as it is light and readily carved.

Al

[Phaeton]

BBowers, I really like that look too,

Al, I think your right, in Tom's new book "Antique Style Duck Decoys" Contemporary Techniques to carve and paint in the Folk Art Tradition, his first choice for wood is Northern white cedar and he used Tupelo Timber as his resource, his second selection would be Pine (dried to about 10 percent moisture content).

In the book he does a step by step Wood Duck including a section on aging the wood, I think Tom is going to do the Wood Duck Hen in the next issue of WCI.
This Contemporary Antique Old Squaw by Tom Matus is made from Cedar, I love this duck, it's very high on my carving to-do list.

Bill
^v^

http://www.tupelotimber.ca/products.html

[wade clark]

Al,
My book doesn't have anything about a Northern White Cedar or Arbor Vitae. Could there be another name for it too?
The Arbor Vitae I'm familiar with grows fast, strait and tall, maybe 50 ft. when untrimmed and is often trimmed and maintained as a hedge. It's always been very hard wood when I've cut it. It looks like cedar and I imagine it's in the cedar family. Are we talking about the same plant/tree? It's not mentioned in WOOD IDENTIFICATION AND USE.
Wade