[GeorgiaCarver]

Hi, happy new years all.....

I went to Missouri for Christmas and decided to load up the van with found wood. I am bringing back a lot of cedar.

In my quest for the wood I found several large trees that had been recently felled. I cut the heart wood out of several pcs 10" x 10" x 3' . Is cedar any good for carving charactures?

I have carved several spirts out of found wood but I have not tried to carve cedar block. I know it chips easily so I am a little concerned that I may not be able to carve detail in it.

If nothing else it will smell good!

Again, happy new years!

Greg

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

probably similar to redwood, will chip trying to do detail and don't know about the cedar but the alcohol spray doesn't work well on redwood....they make great carvings if they are more stylistic without a lot of detail.

[jamesfa]

whatsthat-i agree with HiHO cedar does not take detail well.i have carved several pieces with cedar left over from deck or fence building and stylized the carvings with very little detail. also they were power carved being careful as the burrs tend to dig into the softer parts.the whales in my album are cedar and a couple of birds

Frank

[GaryMc]

I have to disagree, red cedar is very good carving material, I carve woodspirits in driftwood cedar and have no trouble with details. Look at some of them in my Gallery. Look at Jethro, Jed and Willard.
GaryMc

[carver6]

Have to agree with retry. I like to carve cedar from this (Missouri) area. It does seem to be more fragile, as far as chipping is concerned, but will hold detail without too much difficulty. You just have to be a little more careful with it than other woods. Plus, like you say it smells great.

[millhoused]

Greg Wilkerson has great results with Cedar. You can check his carving out here: http://www.wilkersonwoodcarving.com

I bought a truck load of cedar a couple of years ago. Although you have to be more careful than with basswood the smell makes up for it. I really enjoy carving cedar.

Thanks,
Don

[arbarnhart]

I carved a fish in cedar that my youngest daughter plays with, and it does ding easily, but it also carves easily. It has zero tolerance for cutting uphill on the grain though. You can split out a toothpick sized chip trying to do the tiniest detailed adjustment.

[Mark N. Akers]

I've done one woodspirit in cedar it was very nice,but talk about hard to carve
it's so grainy you take one slice with a knife and half the wood comes off.

[Plain_Ol_Ed]

There are at least a half dozen varieties of cedar that grow in the U.S. Plus a number of Junipers and Crypreses that are referred to by many as cedar. Each one carves differently (well at least most of them do). The only way to find out if the particular variety you are using is good for carving is to carve it. For instance, here is Texas we have a Juniper which eveybody calls cedar. It look like red cedar, smells like red cedar, but is much harder. It carves nicely and holds detail well, and makes some beautiful sculptures. I wouldn't try any major project with a knife though, it's just too hard.