# Big redwood check it out



## kj454 (Aug 16, 2011)

Been a while since I have done any milling. Took out the alaskan mill today and cut a few slabs off of a nice redwood. 

View attachment 194676

Not sure what I'm going to do with the slabs yet but they look nice.


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## 820wards (Aug 17, 2011)

kj454 said:


> Been a while since I have done any milling. Took out the alaskan mill today and cut a few slabs off of a nice redwood.
> 
> View attachment 194676
> 
> Not sure what I'm going to do with the slabs yet but they look nice.


 
Fence boards is what I'd be making.... I'm keeping my eyes open for a redwood tree coming down so I can mill and replace my old ceder boards.


jerry-


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## thepheniox (Aug 17, 2011)

How can I tell the difference between cedar and redwood. I mill old hydro poles and sometimes I get one that is different. Much redder and a little harder also smells more like pencils than cedar. I've been calling this redwood. Does that sound right?


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## 820wards (Aug 17, 2011)

thepheniox said:


> How can I tell the difference between cedar and redwood. I mill old hydro poles and sometimes I get one that is different. Much redder and a little harder also smells more like pencils than cedar. I've been calling this redwood. Does that sound right?


 

Wouldn't surprise me that they are redwood. Redwood was used for many purposes in early years here on the west coast. My dad had an old 1000 gallon wine barrel that was made with redwood. A lot of the old railroad ties were also made with redwood. I have a redwood tie that has a figure carved into it that was done by my dad's neighbor about 65 years ago. Where he got the redwood tie, we have no clue. You can still see where the track sat on it and it still has a couple of spikes in the tie. Dad wanted to get rid of it so I have it now.

This guy was quite the wood carver. So there were many uses of redwood back in the day. Bet none of your hydro poles look like this one... :censored:

jerry-


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## thepheniox (Aug 18, 2011)

Here's some definate cedar on the left. The piece on the right is what I'm calling redwood. Sound right?


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## thepheniox (Aug 18, 2011)

Oops forgot the pictures.


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## mikeb1079 (Aug 21, 2011)

man redwood is beautiful.

here's a question for you west coast fellas: is redwood a fairly common urban tree out there? seems i've seen a few posts about it in yards etc, was just wondering how common it is outside of the pockets of old growth forest that remain.


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## 820wards (Aug 22, 2011)

mikeb1079 said:


> man redwood is beautiful.
> 
> here's a question for you west coast fellas: is redwood a fairly common urban tree out there? seems i've seen a few posts about it in yards etc, was just wondering how common it is outside of the pockets of old growth forest that remain.



Yes, pretty common to see redwoods growing in neighborhoods and in cities. I have neighbors across the street from me that have redwoods in their yards that are easily 75-100' trees. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and see them everywhere.

jerry-


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## 2dogs (Aug 22, 2011)

thepheniox said:


> How can I tell the difference between cedar and redwood. I mill old hydro poles and sometimes I get one that is different. Much redder and a little harder also smells more like pencils than cedar. I've been calling this redwood. Does that sound right?


 
No, it doesn't sound right. It the wood smells like pencils then it is an incense cedar. This is a common tree in the Sierras. 

What is a hydro pole?

This is the butt log of an 7' or so Sequioiadendron Giganteum, aka Giant Sequioa or Sierra Redwood, that I helped my friend Andy mill last year. Notice how wide the growth rings are! This tree was in the SFO bay area and was about 120 years old.









This is heart rot or Brown Cubicle rot, a very common defect in redwoods.


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## 2dogs (Aug 22, 2011)

mikeb1079 said:


> man redwood is beautiful.
> 
> here's a question for you west coast fellas: is redwood a fairly common urban tree out there? seems i've seen a few posts about it in yards etc, was just wondering how common it is outside of the pockets of old growth forest that remain.


 
It is really hard to kill a redwood tree. They sprout from the stump or roots and grow from burls. Sometimes they even grow from cones (seeds) in the wild, commonly in nurseries. Fires rarely kill redwoods due to the thick bark with lots of tanin. Even when a redwood is damaged severely by fire it may live for hundreds of years more. They can be bought at any garden center here and Costco sells 6 footers in the late spring. True there are groves of old growth but most of these are protected. The redwood tree is very common but what fools people is most redwoods are second growth, called intermidiate growth and other names (so the enviros can prevent nearly all logging, they don't want people to know the trees are only 60 years old). Second growth redwood is lousy wood, not bug or decay resistant, and has large growth rings. Redwoods grow very fast in second growth groves. I have 1 large and 2 small redwoods in my city backyard. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcEto_Q8MlY


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