I'm in Love - With Spanish Cedar

[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.