# Cedar



## liveoutdoors9 (Jan 12, 2019)

Has anyone used cedar to scroll saw? My cousin has a great small business manufacturing bird houses/bat houses/bee boxes (welliver outdoors her out). Anyway, she's offered me any of the scraps. All different sizes, but a lot of 6×6 or 8×8 pieces at 3/4 of an inch thick. Any negatives to scrolling this stuff? Not your typical deep red colored, aromatic cedar. Much more lighter in color. Was hoping to make toys or puzzles out of the stuff. Thoughts?


----------



## Finn (May 26, 2010)

What you are talking about is Western Red Cedar. Aromatic cedar is Eastern red cedar. I use a lot of eastern red cedar to make boxes. Both kinds are quite weak but if it is about 1/2" it will work fine. I have used some of the western cedar to make 3d cut toys/ornaments. It works well for that. Most western red cedar around here is 5/8" thick and is used for fencing. I do not know what kind of scroll work you do but I do double bevel inlay on my scroll saw with the eastern red cedar. I do not do fretwork like many do.


----------



## Axis39 (Jul 3, 2019)

Only downfall is it is soft, could break if the scroll details are too small. But, I like working with cedar, both Easter and Western, red and white types. It smells nice, machines nicely and looks nice. It really doesn't require any special care, other than being gentle.

*Edited to add a link* - https://www.woodmagazine.com/materials-guide/lumber/sorting-cedar


----------



## WoodenDreams (Aug 23, 2018)

Making lincoln logs or building blocks should be ok, as long as small kids don't chew on them. I've made building blocks with my scraps, and used a Dremel tool to etch images letters and numbers on the side of the building blocks. grandkids liked to play with them.


----------



## dwssr2 (Dec 29, 2014)

I used some local white cedar for 2 projects. I really like it for the fret deer scene. I used 3/4". The wood is very easy to cut, maybe on the soft side. It finished nice with spray polyurethane. White cedar is hard to find around hear. Most people never heard of it. https://www.wood-database.com/northern-white-cedar/ I like using wood with knots, gives the project extra character. The wood I used had a little cedar smell, which was nice.


----------

