Restocking / Underplanting Western Red Cedar.

[openspaceman]

Poor old Lawson's over here doesn't have the fashionable market that WRC has, but it's a nice timber all round. Very highly prized in the States and dearer than WRC over there!

 

Marketing is all to do with the name:

 

Does Port Orford Cedar last as well as Western Red Cedar?

 

I was surprised to find it used for arrow shafts.

[wills-mill]

Over the water they seem to rate it very highly. Not that it will help perception of it as a timber in the UK, I think it suffers by it's association with leylandii (also a great timber).

 

I'm fairly certain that faster grown timber won't be quite so durable as really tight mountain trees, but that's the same across the board.

 

 

PORT ORFORD CEDAR : WOOD PRODUCTS AND INFORMATION : BEAR CREEK LUMBER

EXTERIOR SIDING : PORT ORFORD CEDAR : TONGUE AND GROOVE

 

 

" It is a particularly hard and strong cedar, with the same natural durability as other types of cedar when it comes to weather, rot and insects.

 

Port Orford Cedar has earned a reputation for strength and decay-resistance. Historically, as the strongest of all the cedar products it has been the preferred wood for japanese architecture, building boats, railroad ties and fence posts (its heartwood has an in-ground life of 20-25 years by the Oregon State D.O.T.).

 

Strength, durability and natural decay-resistance make POC the ideal wood for timber structures renown for its beauty and structural integrity, useful for both indoor and outdoor uses. POC is a light colored wood, allowing it to stain uniformly. It´s fine texture, straight grain, and pleasant, sweet-spicy scent, makes it an excellent choice for woodwork. Decking made from POC is not only strong, it´s safe for children. Its texture remains smooth with no raised grain or splintering, and it´s durability makes it ideal for use in high-traffic outdoor sites"

[openspaceman]

O

 

I'm fairly certain that faster grown timber won't be quite so durable as really tight mountain trees, but that's the same across the board.

 

 

Yes and true of other imported softwoods fron more northern climes but to me the main problem is to do with their form and knottiness, as a country we moved away from growing quality timer in the 50s, from a combination of simply not being able to compete in any reasonable timescales and that the demand moved toward industrial timbers, chipboard, hardboard, pallet wood etc.

 

It's the demise of CCA and creosote preservatives that have made these minor red hearted species desirable again, on most sites that would have supported WRC, larch and Douglas their lower yield class militated against them so spruce became de rigeur in the west and corsican in the east.

 

We felled some quite large Leylandii from windbreaks and of course the while heartwood may have been durable but the logs were only of any use in compression and tension, how many tie beams do you need in a structure compared with the things like rafters which need strength in bending too.

 

The other thing is we had quite a few plantations and mixtures with broadleaves, typically beech, where these arbor vitae did have the potential to make good timber but they were prematurely felled in the rush to get PAWS back to broadleaves.

 

A mate of mine bought a PAWS with WRC Beech Ash mixture and was paid substantially to remove the conifer, he has build a timber framed house from it with his own lucas mill. Trouble is now the ash are diseased and Beech won’t like the dry summers.

[porangi]

That's concerning for him. We have quite a bit of Ash and some Beech but also a lot of Hazel. Think the Cedar has a reprieve for now. Going to thin it and see how that changes the landscape

 

 

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[wills-mill]

Be nice to the Cedar, between the squirrels and Chalara there might not be much else to work with.

[Logsnstuff]

Given the shortage in 20 years or so of most softwoods, i would be replanting with softwoods.

 

you think it will take 20 years? with guys on harvesters cutting 200 300 tons a day that's a lot of planting not being done.