[Jim-Iowa]

Not familiar with Mountain Cedar. Is it the same as Western Red Cedar?
The wife has done a lot of Intarsia using Western Red Cedar and I have made frames for her with it. It worked nicely, but seemed pretty brittle and I don't know if it would hold detail without splintering off noses ears etc

[Raparee]

I know where you're coming from, Larry. I got a three foot piece of 2x6 basswood from my local lumber store the other day, and it's just like you describe. Impossible to get a clean cut across the grain, even with a sharp knife. So it's back to the beetle-killed pine for me.

[Larry A.]

Hi Jim-Iowa and Raparee The rocky mountain cedar (also called rocky mountain juniper and known as Juniperus scopulorum, all of which I learned on Wikopedia, God bless it) is much smaller than the western red cedar, though I have one of those beside my house and am thankful for the shade it provides. The junipers, along with piñon, cover the rolling hills in much of New Mexico, the wood is plentiful and the two woods are mostly what gets burned for firewood around here. When I bought some oak one year for some hard wood to bank overnight, it smelled like New England, where I grew up, during leave burning time (when you could still burn your leaves, which tells you how old I am). The rocky mountain cedar/juniper is a scrub tree, really; the outside wood is kind of milky white, the heart of the log being red and aromatic. No problems with it chipping so far, but this is the first time I've used it, so I may yet encounter problems.

Raparee: I joined a wood carving club last night, and the guys were able to point me toward some good basswood. But I still think I'll be taking advantage of my wood pile, especially since the club has a bandsaw that members can use to trim wood, including some good sized logs. I want to get to the red center of some of that cedar and use the best part. It's awfullty pretty stuff. Still, the good basswood is easy to carve for learning new techniques.
Thanks both for your responses.
Larry

[Plain_Ol_Ed]

We have a lot of that juniper/cedar around here too. It's a constant pain to most people and almost considered a weed. The doze it into piles and burn it. It just keeps coming back. It is a pretty wood though a bit on the hard side. It doesn't get very big, just guessing, but I'd say 15' at the most. Every spring it's a boone to the makers of allergy pills. Cedar fever is a prevalent "disease."

[Larry A.]

Yeah, Ed, the pollen from the junipers can certainly make one miserable. One day a couple of years ago I thought I saw smoke coming from the edge of my land in the country on a windy day. When I checked it out, it was branches of juniper releasing clouds of pollen. No wonder we were popping benadryl like candy! It does seem to grow like a weed in a lot of the southwest, but I'm one of those who love those rolling hills dotted with juniper and pinon. As a native New Englander, I'm still charmed after 20 years out here by many things that those native to the southwest might find annoyingly common. You're right, of course, it is a little hard, but I haven't found it too bad. Meduim hard, would you say? I followed your link: nice collection of pocket knives.

[Plain_Ol_Ed]

Thanks on the knives.

I too like the looks of it. Especially when it's mixed in with the live oaks like it is here. On the hardness. It's really not so bad and doesn't tend to follow the grain too bad either. Really kind of pleasant to carve, I love the smell and color.

[Larry A.]

Well, here's the final result of the work with that piece of basswood. Not a success, but if I only posted my successes, I wouldn't have any picture on the site. Well, maybe one. And I thought I should follow up the thread with a picture of the result. Thanks to everyone for your help and input.
Larry
cat side - Wood Carving Illustrated Photo Gallery