How to use cedar fencing

[Brian Kent]

A friend is giving me some unused cedar fence boards. I assume it is not sanded and has lots of knots. Good for a fence.

Has anyone used this wood before for other projects? I have a jointer, flat bed sander, and planes, but not a planer.

Thanks in advance,

Brian

[Mike Heidrick]

I would definately use it to.........give me a reason to buy a planer. :)

I have used it to make shoe risers/boxes for a closet. The closet owners have WAYYY too many shoes. Sands up very nice and smooth.

[Carl Beckett]

It should go right through the sander with no problems. I have used both new and used fence boards (the price was right) for a number of projects (I guess to be fair, these were pretty nice boards with few knots and maybe not all fences would be). Maybe some Adirondack chairs?

[Conrad Fiore]

Bluebird and wood duck nest boxes.

[Kent A Bathurst]

I assume it is not sanded and has lots of knots.

Mr Kent...

I'd assume it is WRC, being out there on the Left Coast. Could be STK [select tight knot] or #2 - which has more + bigger knots. Could be rough both sides, or surfaced one side. Just depends on the specs for that particular material - all these types can and are used for fencing.

Regardless, you can use it for anything you like.....understand that it is soft, so will get dinged fairly easily and won't take a lot of load without deflection. Also - even with the STK - after you have gotten it to the "final" surface texture, you will want to go through with CA glue and secure the knots then final sand, because they'll be coming out sooner or later.

Have fun.

Kent

Ooops...I've made outdoor stuff...like, window planter boxes. I put "dividers" front-to-back every 24" or so on 72"+/- planters to keep the angled front from bowing out under the pressure [10" high, 7" deep at the bottom, and 9" deep at the top]. I used PT for the bottoms to carry the load. Installed with a PT french cleat underneath, and tapcons through the planter back into the brick. Works great. If you do something like this, and decide to use an outdoor stain....this might seem counterintuitive......make one final pass through your sander or with ROS, and sand it all with 80g. Turns out that it is easy to burnish WRC, and the stain won't absorb well, or will absorb unevenly, so the 80g does a great job of preparing the surface.

Kent

[John Morrison60]

Brian

I have sanded them down, cut them up, and used them for cooking planks.
Much cheaper than the 3 for $5 in cooking stores.

I also milled them mildly to create floor and door trim for a cedar closet.

John



John.

[Gary Herrmann]

Brian, stack and sticker them and let them acclimate in your shop for a couple weeks. I'm going to take part of my fence down soon and will see what I can salvage. I've worked with cedar before. It's very light and machines easily. Do you have a band saw? With fence boards, I'd think about making a blanked chest and lining it with cedar. If not, and you have enough - you could just make it out of solid cedar.

Joint two adjacent edges, mark out a consistent thickness along the edges and go to town with your hand planes.

Oh, and your nose will thank you for working it in your shop.

[Brian Kent]

Great ideas, everybody. John, what is a cooking plank? Is that something that goes in the oven, like on some salmon recipes?

Also, I remembered that I committed to making two owl boxes to attract and next barn owls. That would make a very nice - and free - material.

[Karl Card]

I love working with cedar. As others have said it is very easy to work with and should you decide to make somenthing nice like a chest, picture frame, etc it finishes very nice. One of the woods that is so easy to get smooth as silk.. I had the opportunity to get some cedar burl one time and it made a very beautiful pen.

[Mike Null]

Cedar is one of my favorite woods for those quick and dirty projects--shoe racks, boxes---easy stuff you want to knock out in a couple of hours.

[Jeff Monson]

Cedar works great for adironack chairs

[John Morrison60]

Brian

Yes, a cooking plank is a piece of cedar 4" x 12" that is soaked with water and used as surface to cook fish on.
Planked salmon and whitefish are great.
Some people use them a single time, I use them 4 or 5 times until the sides get scorched, or they do not clean up.

John

[Brian Kent]

Very good. Thanks.

[Bruce Elasik]

I used some left over cedar fence pickets to make the ceiling and soffets in my gazebo - stained them with a redwood stain to match the rest of the gazebo.
http://myweb.cableone.net/bge1/gazebo/ceiling2.jpg
http://myweb.cableone.net/bge1/gazebo/soffets1.jpg

[Larry Edgerton]

You could make a fence!

Just mess'in wit ya...

[Karl Card]

on another comical note, you could just simply stack it on a pallet, neatly of course, then let me know how much shipping is and well need I say more....lol

I know gotta be one in every crowd..lol

[Brian Kent]

The church kids want me to build them 2 barn owl nest boxes to try to attract them. I was going to look for outdoor ply, but it hit me that the free cedar would be perfect for this project. Here is the design I want to imitate:
http://sportsmansparadiseonline.com/Live_Owl_Nest_Box_Cam.html

A woodworking friend and I will cut and assemble with screws, then take it apart and bring it to the kids at a summer recreation event to assemble back together with glue and screws. We have nice trees overlooking field areas so we can see the boxes and the owls (if they come and make a home) can spot the nice rodents. Mmmmmmmm - rodents! Tasty!

[Mike Harrison]

http://i670.photobucket.com/albums/vv62/mikeinkcmo/Woodworking/adarondak/shophousepics1057.jpg

Also made some from old sections of fence, rustic I think they call it, and a friends daughters went nuts and we had to build a second pair.

[Tom Scott]

I have used it to make bird houses and a dog house.

[Conrad Fiore]

Brian,
Good idea for the cedar use, good for the children, good for the owls and not so good for the vermin. Add a little informational flyer on the owls for the children when they build the boxes, get their interest going when they are young.
I would however recommend a little different design if you plan on placing in trees. The attached link explains why certain designs are better with regards to motality rate due to predators.
http://www.scvas.org/pdf/cbrp/BuildingBarnOwlBoxes.pdf

[Brian Kincaid]

Oh, and your nose will thank you for working it in your shop.

Unless you have an allergy to Cedar. No cedar in my studio! (Some folks call them garages... whatever!) :)
-Brian

[Brian Kincaid]

Tom, that dog house is NICE!
-Brian

[David Hostetler]

I have used them to build planter boxes, and bird feeders. Very rot resistant, and they age nicely. I have found that the cedar boards I get around here anyway, have very few if any knots...

FWIW, I have a stack of the non cyanide PT pine pickets on my deck right now waiting to become something... I am figuring maybe some sort of lawn storage boxes...

[Ellery Becnel]

I have used these fence boards to make boxes for my hand planes,and precision tools. You can also cut them up
(between the knots) glue them up, and make some really nice bandsaw boxes. The cedar is soft and easy to shape
and sand. Also aromatic when opened. Sorry I replied so late, I just read this.
Good luck it has been fun for me