Is BORG Cedar durable?

[Danny Thompson]

My SIL wants to make a patio (i.e., exposed) dining table. Will BORG 2x Cedar stand up to the elements?

[david brum]

I've built a variety of outdoor stuff using BORG Western Red Cedar 2x4s . It's held up great. I had to pick through the piles to find relative knot and twist free boards, but the quality is acceptable.

[Joe Angrisani]

I've had good luck with Orange Borg cedar. Just pick good quartersawn and rift sawn boards. Leave anything flatsawn or anything showing the center of the tree.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Will BORG 2x Cedar stand up to the elements?
The cost of borg cedar in my area is astronomical.
I wanted to make some planter boxes a few years ago and it figured out to be something like five times more expensive to make them out of borg cedar than it would have been to just buy factory made ones off the shelf.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Don't know where you are located.

If there is a sizable city in the area, I'd guess there are reasonable odds that you can find a lumberyard that deals in WRC. Here in Atlanta, Norcross Supply specializes in it.

Joe's point about qtr/rift is good. Avoiding the pith is good, but that can sometimes conflict with another goal of mine: get heartwood, not sapwood [sapwood = white; heartwood = reddish]. This is more and more difficult to do these days.......unless you find someone that sells all-heart. In which case, $$$ increase.

One problem, though, is the ability to pick through the stacks - OK at some yards, not OK at others. "Kinda not OK" where I get mine, but they are helpful and flexible - especially since I have bought a lot there.

[Joe Angrisani]

I would guess location has a lot to do with Borg cedar. For us, it's practically a local wood. At least that's what I tell myself based on the prices I see. Always low.

For people in the Pacific Northwest, it's probably an even better situation. Kent in Atlanta; not so much.

[Cody Colston]

WRC is used extensively as an exterior siding so yes, it will hold up to the elements. Unfinished, it will turn gray fairly quickly if fully exposed to sun and rain.

[Gary Hodgin]

The cost of borg cedar in my area is astronomical.
I wanted to make some planter boxes a few years ago and it figured out to be something like five times more expensive to make them out of borg cedar than it would have been to just buy factory made ones off the shelf.

Agree. I just built 2 window box planters for my daughter. I bought rough (actually one flat side and one edged side) at a local mill. I paid a little over than $9 a board for 1"x8"x8' boards. Home Depot charged a little over $28 for the same size board.

[phil harold]

Ceder used to be fine grained
now I see boards with 3 growth lines in 5/4 decking
I suppose old growth is hard to find these days
Old growth is what made cedar known for longevity

[Mel Fulks]

Old growth is better,but the newer WRC heart is rated highly by Forest Product Lab ,too. It seems like any thing that is old growth heart in any species ends up under roof as fine furniture because of its extreme expense,even if in earlier days was considered only fit for exterior use. We live in the alternate universe.

[Peter Quinn]

I can't speak for your Borg, and mine doesn't even carry it. They seem to pick their battles here in New England, and the cedar market is pretty well covered by others in my neck. THey have started carrying shake and some shingles, repair quantities of a decent product. I'd stay away from twisted material, I'd stay away from sap wood, it doesn't seem to have all those lovely oils that bugs hate in the same concentration as the heart wood. I suspect you may see more of that at a borg given my other experiences with them, I suppose it would vary regionally? For 2X lumber, flat sawn is more likely, it tends to be stronger in the direction it needs to be and cupping is really less of an issue at that thickness. The vertical grain stuff is very expensive here, and more for siding, trim, etc. Tends to be more relevant in thin stock, clapboard siding, high end trim, windows. For picnic tables or such? Big waste of your money. Happy hunting.

[Tony Zaffuto]

Here in Central Pa, I haven't had any issues with it at all, but then again, we have no other local source.

[Joe Angrisani]

.....For 2X lumber, flat sawn is more likely, it tends to be stronger in the direction it needs to be and cupping is really less of an issue at that thickness. The vertical grain stuff is very expensive here, and more for siding, trim, etc......It's certainly regional. Here in Colorado at the Orange Borg, all the 2x4 cedar is in the same rack. It's also rough cut and true 2" by 4". Nice quartersawn and riftsawn stuff in the same stack as the pithy centers and sapwood-y flatsawn pieces, so you need to fish a little for the good ones (just like all Borg wood).

[Rob Fisher]

Here in Central Pa, I haven't had any issues with it at all, but then again, we have no other local source.

Groff and Groff has cedar.