# Opened up a Mt. Juniper slab.



## deeker (Nov 27, 2009)

Going to be made into a cedar chest for my daughter in law.

Slabs are 18" to 20" wide and five and a half feet long.

We call it WRC.












More pics of this project soon.

Kevin


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## discounthunter (Nov 28, 2009)

nice looking wood. cedar is one of my most favorite woods to work with both cutting and projects, over here we have eastern red cedar or aromatic cedar,looks identical.


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## dustytools (Nov 28, 2009)

Looks good Deeker. I love milling and working with Cedar. You will find that it dries very well without any extra special care and dries pretty fast too. Looking forward to pictures of the chest.


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## mtngun (Nov 28, 2009)

Are you saying the log is a Rocky Mountain Juniper but it looks like and sometimes is nicknamed Western Red Cedar ?

Just asking because I'm trying to educate myself to identify western trees. I presume Utah has lots of juniper but not a lot of true WRC ?

I've got a RMJ seedling planted in my back yard, cuz it's supposed to grow in dry, rocky locations. They typically don't get very big.
RMJ





True WRC likes moist locations.
WRC


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## BobL (Nov 28, 2009)

That sure is pretty looking stuff!


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## Brmorgan (Nov 28, 2009)

mtngun said:


> Are you saying the log is a Rocky Mountain Juniper but it looks like and sometimes is nicknamed Western Red Cedar ?
> 
> Just asking because I'm trying to educate myself to identify western trees. I presume Utah has lots of juniper but not a lot of true WRC ?
> 
> ...



Utah has many species of Juniper, even one named after the state itself, and unfortunately for those of us farther north they tend to grow a lot bigger too. All Junipers are _related_ to the "big" cedars such as Western Red cedar, Port Orford cedar, Alaska/Yellow cedar etc. since all fall under the Cypress family. But none of the above are even remotely related to the True Cedars, like Lebanon cedar.

Basically, if it has "berries", it's a Juniper. The Pacific cedars all have very small scaly "cones", which are not fleshy or seedy like a Juniper's.


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## Adkpk (Nov 28, 2009)

I also was working with arborvitae today. I smell like cedar. Hope to get some pics up sometime this week.


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## Old Goat (Nov 29, 2009)

mtngun said:


> Are you saying the log is a Rocky Mountain Juniper but it looks like and sometimes is nicknamed Western Red Cedar ?
> 
> Just asking because I'm trying to educate myself to identify western trees. I presume Utah has lots of juniper but not a lot of true WRC ?
> 
> ...



Most of the cedar in Utah is the Cedar Juniper. It is in every corner of the state and has the best smell of any wood when it burns in my opinion. If I am going to be outside working in the winter I will throw some in the wood stove just so I can smell the smoke. 

The Western Red Cedar grows tall with a single main trunk. The Cedar Juniper can have many larger branches growing off of the lower trunk. A large juniper can produce several good quality fence posts. This is the main wood used for fence posts in the Mtn West. 

Some of the WRC will tower up and over the other type of trees growing around it like Quaking Aspen and Scrub Oak. I have found it in the same area as White and Douglas Fir at about 8000'. The Cedar Juniper is more of a shrub or bush that tops out around 10' or 12'. You can tell how much rain fall / snow pack in an area by how close the junipers are growing to each other.

The stuff in Deeker's pictures looks to be Western Red Cedar and his photos are making me feel guilty. I found a large dead standing WRC on the Sanpitch earlier this year, and yes I hate to say it, but I cut it up into 16" and 18" rounds and have been burning it. It splits with very little effort and the smell is wonderful sitting next to the stove waiting for it's turn in the Fisher. It does not have the great smell like the Juniper when it burns but I love to pick up a piece and take a deep breath.

I know where there are several more but they are not dead yet. They seem to live forever and to find one dead that is still standing is rare. The one I cut up was on Forest Service land. I had a wood permit and it requires all fuel wood to be cut into 4' lengths or smaller. Four foot would have been long enough to make a cedar chest out of and I could have made several with this tree.


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## deeker (Nov 29, 2009)

Old Goat said:


> Most of the cedar in Utah is the Cedar Juniper. It is in every corner of the state and has the best smell of any wood when it burns in my opinion. If I am going to be outside working in the winter I will throw some in the wood stove just so I can smell the smoke.
> 
> The Western Red Cedar grows tall with a single main trunk. The Cedar Juniper can have many larger branches growing off of the lower trunk. A large juniper can produce several good quality fence posts. This is the main wood used for fence posts in the Mtn West.
> 
> ...



Firewood??? Oh, you should be flogged!!!!

What part of Utah are you in??

I am in Salem, south of Provo.

Kevin


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## Old Goat (Nov 30, 2009)

deeker said:


> Firewood??? Oh, you should be flogged!!!!
> 
> What part of Utah are you in??
> 
> ...



I don't know if I should reveal my location. Someone up in Utah County may take a contract out on me for my burning habits:biggrinbounce2:

I am about 40 miles south of you in Juab Co. 10 miles south of Nephi to be more accurate.

I did mention didn't I that I know where several more of the red cedar trees were. I would take this info with me to the grave if something were to happen to me, hint , hint. The only problem is that they are very alive and well. I almost had a weak moment when I found them and even entertained the thought of helping them met an early demise, but it would have to look like natural causes. I plan on doing some more scouting for more dead ones in the same area next summer as soon as I can get up on the mountain. These are on the Sanpitch, but I would assume that the Skyline would also have some.

The next one I find in less than thriving condition will make it back to the house in pieces 4' or longer.

I just realized that tomorrow is the last day on my wood permit for that area, but I would need a 4 wheeler or even a snow machine to get into where they are now due to the snow. They should be safe until next summer.


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## swift4me (Nov 30, 2009)

*turkey calls*

I make southern style box calls, (Neil Cost style for the turkey guys reading), and good western red like that is prized. Not easy to find commercially, and big clear sections like that are even harder. For me, it sings like no other wood.

Wish I was there. I'd be begging or buying some from you.

Pete


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## redprospector (Nov 30, 2009)

Hey Deek,
I'm definately not an expert on all the different types of Juniper, but I do enjoy milling what I can get my hands on. What does the bark look like on the Juniper you milled up?
Most of what we have is localy called "Alligator bark Juniper", looks like this.













Yours has way less sap wood, so I'm sure it's different.
Here's a pic of a wall I did with Juniper in our "never ending remodel".




It actually has more of a red tint than the picture shows.

Andy


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## deeker (Nov 30, 2009)

Here is a pic of some of it.






The bark is "scaly" on younger trees. Older ones have deep bark, deep grooves like a Fir tree.

The Utah Juniper, we can pull of the bark in long strips.

I will have to take some pics and post them.


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## Backwoods (Dec 1, 2009)

I picked up some fire kill Juniper from the remote east side of the state. It is a very nice wood to work with, leaves a lingering smell in the shop. The multiple bark inclusions add to the rustic feel of the wood.


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## Metals406 (Dec 1, 2009)

Backwoods said:


> I picked up some fire kill Juniper from the remote east side of the state. It is a very nice wood to work with, leaves a lingering smell in the shop. The multiple bark inclusions add to the rustic feel of the wood.



Nice saddle stand! 

Now I want to go find me some juniper.


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## WoodChuck'r (Dec 1, 2009)

Wow. That's some gorgeous wood. Excellent post! 

:greenchainsaw:


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## Old Goat (Dec 4, 2009)

deeker said:


> Here is a pic of some of it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



It looks like you pulled this picture off of the USU web site. I had to take a double look at it because at first it looked like a Cedar Juniper (Utah Juniper). It is not the best picture that USU could have used. A more mature tree would have been a better example.

The Mountain Juniper (Western Red Cedar) will grow taller than the Utah Juniper. It will have a single trunk. The Utah Juniper is more of a bush. It can have a single trunk with large side branches or several branches that form towards the bottom.

I will post some pictures of the bark of the two different types as soon as I can find the camera with the macro settings.


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## deeker (Dec 5, 2009)

Yes, I stole that pic.

Here are some pics with the bark on a large log.
















Some our our "Mt. Juniper" which I call cedar....has scaly bark.


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## deeker (Dec 3, 2010)

Hope to start building something with these now.


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## teatersroad (Dec 3, 2010)

The trees look like our Western Juniper, the wood looks more like Red Cedar, which is pretty soft in comparison to W. Juniper . I've got tons of Juniper to work with, trying to figure what's best for treatment, do have a small local kiln I can look in to. Don't care for the unmilled/knarled variety of design, but lot's of cull wood in any case. How are you going to keep that from checking to beat all? 

Looks good

Some Western Juniper


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## deeker (Dec 3, 2010)

teatersroad said:


> The trees look like our Western Juniper, the wood looks more like Red Cedar, which is pretty soft in comparison to W. Juniper . I've got tons of Juniper to work with, trying to figure what's best for treatment, do have a small local kiln I can look in to. Don't care for the unmilled/knarled variety of design, but lot's of cull wood in any case. How are you going to keep that from checking to beat all?
> 
> Looks good
> 
> Some Western Juniper



My best friend is Anchorseal.

Almost completely stops end checking.


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## ChainsawmanXX (Dec 3, 2010)

redprospector said:


> Hey Deek,
> I'm definately not an expert on all the different types of Juniper, but I do enjoy milling what I can get my hands on. What does the bark look like on the Juniper you milled up?
> Most of what we have is localy called "Alligator bark Juniper", looks like this.
> 
> ...



Wow the first picture looks alot like Persimmon bark.


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## BlueRider (Dec 4, 2010)

deeker said:


> Yes, I stole that pic.
> 
> Here are some pics with the bark on a large log.
> 
> ...



That log is not worth the trouble to mill. Burn it as firewood and save yourself the heart ache of having a piece of furniture made from a spirl grain log blow apart


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## BobL (Dec 4, 2010)

Down under loggers have a saying,
"twist to the left she'll be right - twist to the right she'll be left"
Maybe it's different in the northern hemisphere?


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