Wood recommendations

[Jacob s white]

What woods go well with eastern red cedar?

[Christopher Herzog]

I have been successful pairing with walnut.

[Dan Lambert]

A lot of that really depends on what you're planning to build. I've used red cedar with maple for some items, with walnut for others.

I'm sure that there are a number of other woods that can be paired with it, just depending on individual taste and what effect you're trying to achieve.

[John K Jordan]

A lot of that really depends on what you're planning to build. I've used red cedar with maple for some items, with walnut for others.
I'm sure that there are a number of other woods that can be paired with it, just depending on individual taste and what effect you're trying to achieve.

I was going to ask the same thing. Will the two woods be used for panels, drawer fronts, woodturning, sign making? Glued together?

I recently used ERC with Redbud in a woodturning for someone who wanted something made from local species. I've used ERC with Bloodwood for the complimentary colors.

[Bill Dufour]

redwood will not rot.
Bill D.

[Jacob s white]

I am planning on making a chest of it with the framework of one wood and the in between of cedar

[Stan Calow]

I am planning on making a chest of it with the framework of one wood and the in between of cedar

I did this once using cherry for the frame parts. My thinking was that the red of the cherry would compliment the red of the ERC. I abandoned the project for unrelated issues so I cant say how it would have turned out. But I think it depends on how and if you're going to finish the ERC. Because most of the finishes I considered (presumably only on the outside surface) unattractively darkened and dulled the ERC.

If doing over, I'd consider ash, because of the plain straight grain, and the white color complimenting the creamy white in ERC. That would be more like a picture frame, highlighting the wilder color mix of the ERC panels.
So two more choices to throw in there.

[andy bessette]

I am planning on making a chest of it with the framework of one wood and the in between of cedar

Stick with the red cedar. Mixing woods can lead to an amateur-built, patchwork quilt look.

[John K Jordan]

redwood will not rot.
Bill D.

That's what you think. Assuming you mean California Redwood, Sequoia sempervirens.

We had a deck on our last house made from California Redwood. The wood is supposed to be quite durable. However, after some years, it got soft in places and I ripped it up, extended the house in that direction, and built a smaller deck.

An interesting story about that - when tearing up the deck I found one pocket of decay with a cluster of little pea-sized clear eggs. Looking a one under the microscope I could see the embryo and blood cells moving through tiny vessels that came from the sides of its head and circulated under the surface of the egg. Turned out to be the eggs of a rare salamander on the endangered species list. I caught the adult salamander and took the whole thing to a university professor for hatching, study, and release.

Or if you instead mean the reddish heartwood of the Eastern Red Cedar (Redcedar) tree, Juniperus virginiana.
It's also quite rot resistant but is often variegated with white sap wood all through the heartwood which will definitely rot.

cedar_P9064289esc.jpg cedar_bowl_figured.jpg

Of course, it depends on the intended use. Neither wood is a problem indoors.

JKJ

[Jacob s white]

Thanks for the advice will definitely stick with cedar

[Bill Dufour]

Then redwood sold today is second growth and no more rot resistant then Douglas fir. I am cutting up and burning the old fence boards from a seventy year old fence. If I had time I could plane or sand them and reuse but they are only four feet long. The 4x4's did rot off in the ground. It seems to be mostly clear heart with no knots.
Bill D