Deodar Cedar

[Gene Hintze]

My crazy Canadian arborist buddy called this morning to say he had some chunks of deodar cedar for me. Has anyone ever turned this variety of cedar before? I am wondering if it has the same cracking issues that many have commented on about eastern red cedar.

[Al Wasser]

Every cedar I have seen tends to crack. If you look this one up on the web it shows as the national tree of Pakistan and native to the Himalayas. The picture shown makes the wood look more brown than red. I don't think a chunk of wood will kill ya so give it a go.

[lawrence michael smith]

Deodar,Lebanon and Atlas are true cedars and are not native to North America, To my knowledge the are only planted as landscape trees here and it is almost impossible to tell them apart when they are growing. I have processed quite a few of these in the last 20 years or so a have never seen any difference in the looks, smell(wonderful aroma], or workability of any of these trees. I also have turned several pieces and have noticed a slight tendency for shallow checking. Several recent posts have refered to finishing problems so you may want to look back about 5-6 pages and read the comments on finishing lebanon cedar. Turning this wood will leave a very aromatic smell in your shop. I think you will enjoy it.