Experiences with Eastern Red (aromatic) cedar?

[Scott Winners]

I have a build coming up to store the heirloom textiles. One of my great grandmas especially was beast mode making doilies, a tatter I think. So I have a box full of things made out of cloth or thread.

Reading up on aromatic cedar (Juniperus virginiana), the wood panels need to be sanded down to aromatic every 3-7 years to keep the bug repellant in effect.

I am too old to be making new drawers for the heirloom textiles once or twice (or thrice) per decade. I am leaning towards making the external case out of show hardwood, beech or white oak most likely; using poplar as a secondary wood, and then using nominal clipboard sized pieces of aromatic cedar (perhaps 8x 11x 0.5 inches) within the drawers among the textiles as bug repellant. When the smell goes away I could, in my dotage, just run the cedar panels through a lunchbox planer, clean the dust off them and re-pack the drawers with fresh cedar scent and old textiles.

Other than cleaning the fresh wood dust off the freshly freshened up panels, is there another downside here I am overlooking?

Thanks

[Mel Fulks]

Scott, I’m gonna do some research on this. I do remember asking someone, many years ago about diminishing cedar-scent. He said
“ the bugs can smell it ,even if you can’t”.

[Mel Fulks]

Did a quick google and it said when you can’t smell it the bugs can’t either. Well,…sometimes our enemies are like us ….bummer.
BUT the bugs can’t open the top !

[Stan Calow]

One of the lumber suppliers around here sells (or at least the last few times I was there) glued-up panels (tongue and groove) of ERC for lining closets. Chipboard too, although that looks tacky.

I think a quick sanding would be better than a planer.

[roger wiegand]

I've never been very impressed with cedar's insect repellent properties (likewise the wool moths in our house), but to maximize the amount of aromatics in the chest I'd throw in a bag of fresh shavings once or twice a year. Eastern red cedar turns nicely, with great contrast and beautiful color for as long as it lasts. Making shavings for the chest is a good excuse to get a piece onto the lathe now and again.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

The aroma certainly fades. The white sap wood has very little aroma to begin with. Dads chest made in his high school shop class in 1950 still has the smell. It has no white wood at all and tons of knots. The boards are an inch thick. The one I made in 1981 is lined with thin closet lining. The lining is about 50/50 white and red. It has lost its smell. Sanding followed by washing with hot water brings the smell back for a short time. I believe Eastern Red Cedar to be a good but mostly unsung tone wood.

[Tom Bender]

Not sure how much you need but in a drawer 2" deep x 12" wide you could put a piece 2" x 12" x 1" in the front of the drawer and refresh it easily and even train your grand niece to do it far into the future. Include written instructions on type of wood and a source or two.

[Warren Lake]

this was in my parents basement and made by moms father. Finished on the outside and not on the inside. If bugs could not smell this then they have covid. Even with my tortured nose the smell of cedar inside was very strong.

P1560612b.jpg

[Rob Luter]

I lined this box with cedar almost four years ago and it's still quite aromatic. The liner is five pieces and just slips in so if I need to pull it out and sand/refresh the inner surfaces I can. I don't think I'll need to.

If you are concerned about insects you can always fill a couple small drawstring bags with cedar shavings and make sachet bags to throw in the drawers. You can get them at Walmart too (LINK)

[Doug Garson]

You could make a bunch of cedar shavings with a hand plane, put some in mesh bags and the remainder in zip lock bags (double bag to maximize the seal) and when the shavings in the mesh bags lose their aroma, toss them and replace with some of the shavings in the zip locks.

[Patrick McCarthy]

Alternatively, maybe it would be easier to start asking the daughters, DILs, nieces, grandchildren which one(s) they would like . . . . . this way you get to see it passed on the a new generation.

Full disclosure: my current mindset is to send as much stuff home with my kids when departing from the Christmas visits next month. . . . except for tools and wood, of course.

Another thought, maybe make multiple boxes for them to use . . . and they would double as Christmas gifts.

[Mel Fulks]

Warren, I love that pattern and color ! You could do marionette shows in that, or puppet shows !

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I watched a pencil documentary on you tube. Who ever produced the video inserted an image of Juniper. Port Orford Cedar is the pencil wood I prefer.

@56 seconds in
https://youtu.be/2N_d1ZpwdJ8?si=wvWePJS-HgnL8tlH

[Warren Lake]

Mell there were fur coats in there three or four including one my mom had remodelled at one point. All stuff from another time.

As near as I could tell the only finish on it were some coats of shellac. My mother told me her father learned to make windows and he started a window and door business. Years in sold it as he didnt like the paperwork aspect. She had windows he made in her home for 50 years the old pine ones with storm windows put on and off once a year three little holes in the bottom. Mom swore they worked better than the new ones she got. Maybe they did the air space between the two panes of glass would be huge compared to new thermal pane but the fact that they lasted the 50 years is pretty impressive.