# Can someone explain this Cedar log?



## Yooperforeman (Feb 20, 2012)

This is a strange looking log,the bark is growing in a twist like the threads on a screw.No one has ever seen anything it before.Is it useful for anything? I cut a slab with the chainsaw and sanded it,the grain goes in both directions.View attachment 225165
View attachment 225166
View attachment 225167


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## MotorSeven (Feb 20, 2012)

I've never seen anything like that...hard wood or soft?. Post a pic of the slab. If it is real figured you might sell them as fireplace mantles.


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## Yooperforeman (Feb 20, 2012)

It's White Cedar,softwood.

I don't think it's wind twisted,it was in a swamp and the only one there like it.


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## MHouse1028 (Feb 20, 2012)

it's common here in NH with swamp maples ...not yet milled any but looks like it would be very interesting...good score never seen cedar do that


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## Holy Mackerel (Feb 20, 2012)

Papa likes! 
Love to see a picture of the grain.


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## betterbuilt (Feb 20, 2012)

Here's an article on twist. 

http://www.logassociation.org/resources/spiral_grain_lbn63.pdf

Nice logs.


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## VA-Sawyer (Feb 20, 2012)

Those might be worth more in the UN-sawn condition. I would check with local woodworkers first.
Rick


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## betterbuilt (Feb 20, 2012)

VA-Sawyer said:


> Those might be worth more in the UN-sawn condition. I would check with local woodworkers first.
> Rick



That's what i was thinking. Seems like there would be much to hold boards together anyways. I however would like to see a board just because.


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## Yooperforeman (Feb 20, 2012)

Thanks for the link. Good reading there.
I'll post a picture later in the week of a board.We sawed a slab board 20" with the chainsaw,then ran it through the planer.


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## ridecaptain (Feb 20, 2012)

betterbuilt said:


> Here's an article on twist.
> 
> http://www.logassociation.org/resources/spiral_grain_lbn63.pdf
> 
> Nice logs.



Very interesting and informative article.Thanks for posting


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## ridecaptain (Feb 20, 2012)

Yooperforeman said:


> It's White Cedar,softwood.
> 
> I don't think it's wind twisted,it was in a swamp and the only one there like it.



I'm not familiar with white cedar and not questioning your knowledge,but this is a very common characteristic of juniper which is what it looks like to me,without seeing the tree i couldn,t really say.


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## BlueRider (Feb 21, 2012)

Save the gas and wear and tear on your saw and cut it into firewood. Spiral grain logs have no value as sawn lumber, actually in my book they have negative value. The boards will twist excessively when drying. Then assuming you can plane one of the dried boards flat as it moves with seasonal moisture changes it will trist or un-twist depending on the direction of moisture change. 

If you use spiral grain lumber to make a glued up panel the seasonal movement will blow apart the glue joints. If you choose to make a slab table or bench from your spiral grain log it may start off sitting flat but it will only be flat 2x a year the rest of the time it will wobble as it twists and untwists. 

you may think I am exagerating how worthless spiral grain wood is, but I am speaking from pesonal experiance. Also your Cedar log is actually cypress. I know everyone calls it white cedar but it is actually a cypress not a cedar.


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## MotorSeven (Feb 21, 2012)

Cypress? I'm from Louisiana and it does not look at all like the cypress I'm familiar with. Is it a sub-species?


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## redoakneck (Feb 21, 2012)

As soon as you think you got something special it turns out to be crap, Welcome to milling:msp_sneaky:


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## redoakneck (Feb 21, 2012)

Well sir this walnut is tooo straight, too dark, too light, too thick, no knots, too many knots-- honestly I can please my wife easier than the wood buyers around here.

Dude wanted 16 foot straight osage orange posts 10"x10", that stuff does not grow straight, a pain to mill, and then low price, and would dry crooked..... I understand specifications and all and have paid for my saw and mill but it aint easy.


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## Sawyer Rob (Feb 21, 2012)

If it was my log, i'd mill it... Once i opened it, then i'd decide what i'd mill out of it.

Rob


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## betterbuilt (Feb 21, 2012)

Sawyer Rob said:


> If it was my log, i'd mill it... Once i opened it, then i'd decide what i'd mill out of it.
> 
> Rob



It's hard to put it back together after you open it up.


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## VA-Sawyer (Feb 21, 2012)

BlueRider said:


> Also your Cedar log is actually cypress. I know everyone calls it white cedar but it is actually a cypress not a cedar.



I think not. I belive the OP is from the UP of Michigan, not the East coast. 
Rick


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## Yooperforeman (Feb 21, 2012)

VA-Sawyer said:


> I think not. I belive the OP is from the UP of Michigan, not the East coast.
> Rick



Yes, the U.P. of MI.
We don't have cypress trees here.However,the Cedar belongs to the Cypress family.


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## Sawyer Rob (Feb 21, 2012)

betterbuilt said:


> It's hard to put it back together after you open it up.



And why would i want to put it back together??

I've opened a LOT of logs over the years, i've never once wanted to put one back together.

Rob


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## BlueRider (Feb 22, 2012)

VA-Sawyer said:


> I think not. I belive the OP is from the UP of Michigan, not the East coast.
> Rick



Didn't mean to ruffle any feathers or imply that what is called white cedar is any less of a wood because it is not a true cedar. The truth is that there are not any cedars that are native to the US. most of what is called cedar is actually cypress or juniper. For instance alaskan yellow cedar is actually cypress and eastern red cedar is actually juniper.We do have several types of cedar that have been widely planted in the US such as deodar cedar.

If you look at the 'family tree' so to speak of the diferent types of trees you will see that the cedars, cypress and junipers are related as are the firs and sequioa, but they are not the sam


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## BlueRider (Feb 22, 2012)

MotorSeven said:


> Cypress? I'm from Louisiana and it does not look at all like the cypress I'm familiar with. Is it a sub-species?



I'm out on the west coast and our monterey cypress dosn't look anything like your bald cypress but in both areas they are refered to simply as cypress trees. This is a perfect example of why it is more accurate to refer to trees by their latin names. 

Both types of cypress have atractive wood and they have their similarities but there are also a lot of differences, monterey is more britle and prone to spliting and it is a bit denser than bald cypress. I have not milled any bald cypress but Monterey is a dificult wood to mill due to its hardness, its sap and the way it quickly dulls a chain due to the encapsulated silica. It is notorious for gumming up chains. How does bald cypress mill?


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## BlueRider (Feb 22, 2012)

redoakneck said:


> As soon as you think you got something special it turns out to be crap, Welcome to milling:msp_sneaky:



Sorry I didn't mean to rain on anyones parade, just hoped to save someone a leason learned by hard knocks. Iv'e been doing this for a long time and I wish this forum had existed back when I first started, instead I had to learn everything the hard way. I always hated spending an after noon milling and then carfully processing the wood only to have it turn into kindling. But if you want to practice milling or see just how bad a spiral grain lumber is this log would offer a great learning experiance and a chance to post pictures for others to see how a spiral grain slab deforms during drying.


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## Old Blue (Feb 24, 2012)

*At least it's a righty...*

I feel somehow oddly strange saying that about a log.

Old Blue
Where the beaurocrats make the stamp act look like amateur hour, in...
Kali-bone-ya


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## Yooperforeman (Feb 28, 2012)

*UPDATE: with pictures*








here's two pictures of slabs sawed with a chainsaw and then planed.


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## Old Blue (Feb 28, 2012)

*Thats some serious dramatic color and grain*

Hope it doesn't break your heart! Keep us posted.

Old Blue
Oppresive regulation in....
Kali-bone-ya


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