Aromatic Cedar

[pilot1022]

Has any of you ever turned Aromatic Cedar into pens? Does it need to be stabilized? How do you like it?
Thanks

 

[Nolan]

I listed some Eastern red cedar for .40 and didnt sell one blank.

 

[JimGo]

Yes (see my album)

No

It's beautiful, but soft and very easily damaged. As long as you're willing to accept that as a part of the pen, you're fine.

 

[Tea Clipper]

I like to use angle-cut aromatic cedar. I think straight grained is a little to plain for me. Like Jim said, the wood is soft but cuts like butter. Here's a small pic of one I did:

 

[LostintheWoods]

.....What's already been said--cross-cut or angle-cut can have near spectacular results. Don't need to stabilize. If you're looking to market the "aromatic" aspect, sell it quick, as the aroma tends to leave fairly soon--you're not dealing with much wood in the first place, and a pen is not normally confined to an enclosed environment, and the aroma will fade. It can be restored w/ light sanding, or application of cedar oil, but not really practical as a selling point. Just market the beauty of a nice piece of cross- or angle-cut cedar. Knots can be interesting, as well.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I have sold quite a bit of aromatic red cedar pen blanks. Buyers like it. Personally, turning cedar, pens or larger, is a love/hate affair. It is soft and easy to turn. But it is also brittle and can fail in a blink. But, it is pretty. No, does not need stabilizing, and, in fact, probably would not take stable very well because of high oil content.

 

[jkirkb94]

My blanks are prone to blowouts since they are quite fiqured and soft. Stablizing wouldn't hurt. Aromatic when turning though! No trouble with moths![] Kirk[8D]

 

[gerryr]

A friend sent some Juniper, related to Cedar I think, to be stabilized and it came back the color of used motor oil.

 

[byounghusband]

I had a friend bring me a board of Aromatic Cedar and I made about a dozen pens for him. Definately a softer wood and I got carried away on a couple and turned TOO far. []
That was back when I started...... Better control now!![]

 

[dbriski]

I have done a few. The girls love the color. Like said above, it turns quickly and easily, but sometimes too much so, you can easily take too much and its very prone to chipping or blowing out. I usually soak with thin CA and it sucks up a lot of it.

 

[RussFairfield]

It makes a beautiful pen when you get the purple and white color variations. It is very soft, but nothing that a good soaking coat of Thin CA won't cure.

The top pen is Eastern Cedar.

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[woodbutcher]

The first pen I ever turned was aeromatic cedar. It came from one of my own trees. That was 5yrs ago. My wife still carries it. Forget the cedar smell as it is soon gone.

 

[alamocdc]

I've turned quite a lot of Aromatic Cedar into pens. I did not stabilize it and it turns well enough. My only complaint with it is how soft it is. Here's just one example.

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