Help Identify Mystery Conifer (big Pics)

[jimdad07]

It looks a lot like the hemlock bark that I spend most of my hunting season staring at. I vote hemlock.

 

[jimdad07]

What I should have said was "yeah, I read the rest of the posts instead of skipping to the end to put my two cents in" Good job on finding out what it is, good information on the cedars too.
Jim

 

[smithie55]

That was fun
Good post
Glad you found out what it was

 

[DaltonPaull]

has anyone here ever worked with deodar cedar wood? I've been curious to find out if it's very useful.

 

[BC WetCoast]

It's a deodora cedar only if the guy who cut it down, knew what it was (and I know many tree service guys who would get it wrong). Deodoras get heavy limbs like that, (we took one down today like that), but so do hemlocks that have been topped in the past and have grown with a series of new tops (deodoras do this too). The bit of heart rot would indicate that this piece was near the topping cut.

 

[Daninvan]

It's true, the guy who cut it down may not have had it correct either.

I would also agree with Hddnis that the picture he posted of atlantica (Atlas cedar) looks a lot like my specimen.

I should also have mentioned that one of the city tree trimmers also came by today, looked at it for quite a while (he's a city guy!) and also identified it as deodar. He was unsure where it came from since he claimed the city doesn't have any deodars this big.

Anyways I am pretty sure it is deodar, I agree there is a chance it is atlantica. Just for fun I might take a piece out to UBC one day and see if they can settle it for us definitively.

Dan

 

[BlueRider]

has anyone here ever worked with deodar cedar wood? I've been curious to find out if it's very useful.

I have a couple hundred bf in the shop right now that I am using for exterior trim on my house. I got it from a friend and it is alrerady dry so I can't give any info on milling it. judging from the pieces I have it looks like it dries easily with little or no degrade. It planes nicely and does not get the compression seperation when planing flat grain that hemlock and doug fir can be prone to. It also takes router details nicely. I plan on painting all the trim and it looks like it will take paint well, no sap or pitch pockets to bleed through.

I am looking forward to having some left over bits to play with. I have experimented with a bit of the scrap and it does not seem to carve well. I was hopeing it might carve like port orford cypress but it doesen't.

 

[Greener]

I am about 90 percent it is deodor (atlas family) cedar, also know as white cedar. When they season, they turn an orangish color and have a sweet/dry smell. The bark is too rough/rigid for spruce or hemlock but not deep or wide enough ridges to be fir. I have cut a few, but have cut many spruce and fir. I'd guess on Atlas/deodor cedar. It is hardwood.

 

[BC_Logger]

its a deodar and from the impressive ring growth likely second growth

can I ask where the log came from in Bc ?

 

[Daninvan]

That tree was a yard tree from a private house somewhere in south Vancouver. Deodar is not a common tree around here. I only know of a handful myself, but now I have milled up three, so I guess there must be more than I had thought. I am not sure that the concept of 'second growth' applies to non-native species planted in city gardens and parks - I thought it only applied to where original forests had been cut down and new forests of native species grew in their place?

Greener, there definitely is a 'dry' component to the smell of deodar, glad I am not the only one who sense that! That aspect of the smell kind of reminds me of a similar characteristic in the smell of Tennessee cedar, the cedar that is used to line cedar chests. But I am pretty sure that Deodar cedar is a softwood not a hardwood.

Dan

 

[Greener]

could be cedrus...deodar or possibly atlantica

What is atlantica? Just curious.

 

[Greener]

That tree was a yard tree from a private house somewhere in south Vancouver. Deodar is not a common tree around here. I only know of a handful myself, but now I have milled up three, so I guess there must be more than I had thought. I am not sure that the concept of 'second growth' applies to non-native species planted in city gardens and parks - I thought it only applied to where original forests had been cut down and new forests of native species grew in their place?

Greener, there definitely is a 'dry' component to the smell of deodar, glad I am not the only one who sense that! That aspect of the smell kind of reminds me of a similar characteristic in the smell of Tennessee cedar, the cedar that is used to line cedar chests. But I am pretty sure that Deodar cedar is a softwood not a hardwood.

Dan

Dan, you may be right on the softwood issues. I just know it is tightgrained and bug/rot resistant usually.

 

[northwest coast]

fun, informative post, i would have said hemlock, but i am not so familiar with real cedar.

 

[Gavman]

fun, informative post, i would have said hemlock, but i am not so familiar with real cedar.

Have to agree there and nobody got upset either ha ha