I'm in Love - With Spanish Cedar

[John TenEyck]

I had never worked with Spanish cedar until today. I bought a plank yesterday to make a new window sash for someone. Today I cut a piece to rough length; my jigsaw sailed right through it and the smell was very pleasant, almost like Sapele. Then I jointed the 12" wide piece. So smooth and easy and my shop smelled great. Planing was just as easy with no chip out no matter which way I ran it through. At $8.06/bf for the 8/4 stock it's not cheap but I'm loving working with it. Where have you been all my life?

John

[Richard Coers]

The only time I used spanish cedar was inside a humidor. I was a bit disappointed when little sap/oil) (?) dots showed up latter. A touch up with sandpaper cleared it up.

[Kevin Jenness]

It is a nice wood to work with except for the bitter taste it leaves in my mouth- literally.

[Andrew Hughes]

I also like Spanish cedar.
I like all the aromatic woods the one that are friendly to cut even better.

[Joe Calhoon]

Process a few thousand feet of it and I bet you won’t like the smell and bitter taste in your mouth that Kevin mentioned. The smell stays in the DC for a long time. It’s a very stable timber good for windows but a little soft for doors.

[Brian Holcombe]

Move on to Honduras mahogany, all the best aspects of Spanish cedar and none of the worst.

[Cary Falk]

Love the smell. Hate the taste.

[John TenEyck]

Move on to Honduras mahogany, all the best aspects of Spanish cedar and none of the worst.

My wallet said Spanish cedar was the right choice.

John

[John TenEyck]

It is a nice wood to work with except for the bitter taste it leaves in my mouth- literally.

Haven't noticed it yet but I've only cut a few pieces. Some folks complain about walnut, Sapele, and other woods, too, but so far none have bothered me.

John

[John TenEyck]

That's been my take so far, too, Joe; not hard enough for doors although it seems just as hard as the Douglas fir I've seen lately. Sure great to work with though.

John

[Joe Calhoon]

Works good for distressed doors John but it dents easy. It’s softer than fir. It’s been a few years since I bought it but it was $3.50 or so a few years ago. Sounds like it has gone up a lot. The smell made my long time employee sick so we stopped using it.

[John K Jordan]

My wallet said Spanish cedar was the right choice.

John

For some other mahogany substitutes this article might be interesting:
https://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/mahogany-mixups-the-lowdown/

JKJ

[Robert London]

It's good to experiment with woods and find what works for you.

I made guitars in my spare time and spanish cedar is often used in guitar necks and bodies. I'm very found of Sapele for trim work, furniture, and a host of other things. It's 30% less expensive than genuine honduran mahogany. Honduran dents easier and it's not as hard as Sapele or African Mahogany as they call it. Sapele can take more outdoor abuse in the elements. Very pretty under a natural finish, too.

My go to wood for projects as of late is good ole cheap Poplar. It cuts easy, sands and glues easy. If you going to paint a soft wood for furniture and trim, I don't see a need to pay anymore that 3-4 bucks a BF for soft wood.

Spanish cedar isn't the prettiest wood out there for $7-8 BF. It's a bit bland looking. Hence you don't see a lot.

[Brian Holcombe]

Honduran depends a lot on where on the mountain it came from, I bought some recently that is about as heavy as white oak and very hard. It shows a lot of mica and is pretty waxy feeling.

[Jim Becker]

Honduran depends a lot on where on the mountain it came from, I bought some recently that is about as heavy as white oak and very hard. It shows a lot of mica and is pretty waxy feeling.
Interesting. The material for those Chinese motif chairs of yours was of reasonable weight and pretty clean. Same supplier? Growing conditions really do matter!

[Brian Holcombe]

That chair is a good example, the first run of material was completely different than the latter runs. The stuff that is darker and has mica flecks will generally also be very dense.

I’ve had the same thing happen with other woods, like walnut, but to a lesser degree.

Same supplier, we were moving boards around the other day and there are boards nearly identical in size that vary drastically in weight.

[John K Jordan]

...I’ve had the same thing happen with other woods, like walnut, but to a lesser degree.
...

I got a slab of walnut once about 3" thick that was hard and quite heavy for walnut. I don't know what's in it but it dulled a brand new Starrett bimetal bandsaw in less than 24" of cut. The guy who gave it to me said it had been a mantle above a fireplace for about 100 years, if that makes any difference.

[Kevin Jenness]

Many years ago I got in about 1500 bf of Honduras Mahogany in the same shipment. Half was really nice, fairly dense, dark and flat, the rest was consistently bowed, blond, low density, peppered with pin knots and worst of all, sticker-stained. I complained loudly and got a visit from an outside salesman who concluded his inspection by acknowledging all the problems and saying, "Well, aside from all that, it's pretty good lumber." They did replace it, but it showed how much a species can vary depending on growing conditions.

[Jim Becker]

That chair is a good example, the first run of material was completely different than the latter runs. The stuff that is darker and has mica flecks will generally also be very dense.

I’ve had the same thing happen with other woods, like walnut, but to a lesser degree.

Same supplier, we were moving boards around the other day and there are boards nearly identical in size that vary drastically in weight.

Interesting! I know that piece you had me do stuff with was really nice to work with and the carver did a masterful job with it, too.

[Rob Luter]

I like Spanish cedar as well. I made my kiddo a cat proof napkin caddie with the stuff. It smells wonderful.

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