I'm considering building outdoor furniture from cedar purchased from Menards

[Justin Pfenning]

I'm planning to build some chairs for our uncovered deck. My local Menards sells cedar dimensional lumber, and it's not crazy expensive. I have done some digging in the piles, and there are some decent looking boards available. What am I giving up with the Menard's cedar over sourcing cedar from a wood working store? It would save me quite a bit of money buying from Menards. I will likely finish the chairs with a UV blocking stain\sealer to prevent the cedar from fading to silver.

Justin Pfenning

[Peter Quinn]

i don't have a Menards near me, but my local Lowes stocks a cedar STK decking and other dimensioned lumber, I used some on my barn/garage build about 3 years back. I was doing some online looking and was pretty surprised to learn that they sold cedar at all, and was incredulous when I saw the price. I felt it worth a look, and it was really decent material, genuine STK western red cedar, I had to be choosy about the boards given the way its stored in doors in conditioned space standing vertical, but its performed great so far. I had bought about 4K SF of STK barn siding from the source in Canada and needed material for window trim. So if you know what you are looking at its not impossible to find some decent material in the big box. I had expected to pay close to double at my local building yard for similar material.

[Shawn Christ]

I wouldn't hesitate to use it if the price is right. Plus it's easy to sort through the piles at Menards to get what you want.

[lowell holmes]

My preference for outdoor furniture is quarter sawn white oak. I also use it for door and window material.

[Phil Mueller]

I built two rustic tables with cedar tops. Cedar for one is aromatic cedar from Woodcraft, the other is cedar from HD. Both were fine to work, but the cedar from woodcraft definitely has a nicer color and finish. For outdoor furniture, though, I wouldn't hesitate to use the Menards wood.

[Pat Barry]

I recently bought some cedar from Menards for an outdoor project. First though, I went to a local lumberyard with a reputation of selling wood to working professionals - I considered them to be top of the line quality. When I enquired with them about getting some clear cedar for my project I about fell over at the prices - talk about sticker shock. So I said thanks a lot and went to Menards. I found some really nice 2x6x12ft cedar lumber at Menards, picked through a few and selected the best one I could find and bought it. Overall I was very happy.

[Justin Pfenning]

Thanks for the input. I think I'll give it a shot. My plan is to build a prototype chair to get the look and feel I'm after, then knock out a set for our deck. Should be a fun winter project.

Justin