Cedar Fence Boards

[atldal]

Has anyone ever carved Cedar? I have a bunch of old fence boards I would love to carve into signs.

Thanks
Shane

[Underdog]

I haven't carved any, but I've turned it. Some other folks have carved it with good results. It's soft and has an interesting pattern. The wood can be irritating to some people. I recommend dust collection highly.
If the boards are warped or rough, you might want to dress it, or use a sled.

[Bigtyme]

I have carved a few signs using cedar. It seemed to work ok, but did require a little extra cleanup as it does have some "fuzzies". I agree with Underdog about using dust collection and might suggest to strategically select the board you would use to carve to avoid bad sections (with loose knots, for example).

[easybuilt]

Half of my signs are carved in western red cedar. It is soft and carves great but the knots can be a problem unless it helps your signs appearance. I usually buy KD tight knot cedar. A dull bit just tears up the cedar.

[gashawk]

Here's one thats red cedar. Light weight wood. Carved well.

[SteveNelson46]

This one is done in 8/4" Spanish Cedar. It's really simple but it's what the customer wanted. His wife's name is Felice. The wood is REALLY soft and pricey but, beautiful!

[CNC Carver]

Steve that came out great.

[CarverJerry]

Steve, one of our members here on the forum does a lot with cedar. His handle is "lilskip" David does some really nice work using cedar. Here is a link to one of his threads and you can see some of his work. http://forum.carvewright.com/showthread.php?18481-New-From-the-Tinderbox.....&highlight=lilskip

[PCOutlaw]

Nice looking sign Steve.
What font did you use on it?

[want2b]

Has anyone ever carved Cedar? I have a bunch of old fence boards I would love to carve into signs.

Thanks
Shane

Used Red Cedar, like it a lot, and what I've heard called Western Cedar, light brown and fairly straight grained, it's used for fences in this area. It is very soft and carves easily. Found I really needed to seal the end grain in the carved areas before any paint due to bleeding. Used it for outdoor items obviously for its durability. Down side is I found out how easily it dents when a sign fell over, my bad, but I now make sure the sign is not going to be used where it will likely get bumped(along with protecting it from me)
Rick H

[atldal]

Those look great, I will give some carves a try.

Thanks,
Shane

[mtylerfl]

This one is done in 8/4" Spanish Cedar. It's really simple but it's what the customer wanted. His wife's name is Felice. The wood is REALLY soft and pricey but, beautiful!

Hi Steve,

I've carved a lot of Spanish Cedar and love it, too! It is NOT Cedar, though. It's actually in the Mahogany family. It gets its name (a misnomer) because of the strong scent, which I am sure you've noticed, as I have. The dust is not safe to breath - almost as bad as MDF for me - stops up my sinuses for days, if I'm not careful.

I have seen some really great carves on Cedar here on this forum, and elswhere. Unfortunately, the Cedar readily available in my area (fence boards) is really, really bad for machining. It is very "stringy" and the fuzzies are just impossible to deal with. I'm envious of you lucky guys that can get "the good stuff" in your areas and you have done some beautiful work with it!

[SteveNelson46]

PCOutlaw, The font is "Matador" I just Googled "Spanish Fonts" and found it. Best of all it was a free download.

[henry1]

I wish I could find the greek fonts the real lettering something like this (καλωσόρισμα ) it mean welcome , as you type the greek fonts it should come out like I posted does anyone no were I can find this help

[SteveNelson46]

Michael, I didn't know that "Spanish Cedar" really isn't cedar. I bought a 12 foot long by 6 1/2 inch wide board that was just short of 2 inches thick for just over $100.00. It was also quarter sawn. I cut it in two 5 foot sections, grain matched, jointed, and glued them together to get a really beautiful board about 12 inches wide. Final dimensions of the sign were 48 inches by 9 1/2 inches by 1 1/2 inches thick. A bit pricey but, it sure made a pretty sign!

[PCOutlaw]

PCOutlaw, The font is "Matador" I just Googled "Spanish Fonts" and found it. Best of all it was a free download.

Thanks Steve