Old growth cedar/Not a pen yet

[low_48]

Just wanted to share this with other wood lovers. I found some 6x6 beams at the tree burial ground, covered with paint, full of nails and lag bolts. Just a mess, but I could see that it was old growth. Cut some up tonight and made a few pen blanks from an end cut. Sanded the end grain of this blank and counted 69 rings in a 15/16" square blank. Yea, I know that western red cedar will not make a great pen because it's so soft, but, what a fitting end to this majestic tree. Hope the photo comes out somewhat reasonable, but I had to use magnification to count the rings!


Image Insert:

85.88KB

 

[jwoodwright]

I'm confused, your photo is of a finished round piece with chipping from a saw cut. How Did you get finished round stock from an old 6x...[] You could use that for closet rod...[] That grain is tight...

 

[low_48]

Well I was aiming for a toothpick, but ended up with a 7/8" dia pen blank. I just wanted to see how the cedar would finish up and how it would turn. I wanted the photo to show the end grain, so went a little close. Sooo, that's a photo of a 7/8" dia "stick", maybe. The 6"x6" timbers just means there's a lot of something to be made from them. I was thinking about some outdoor tables for the kids, but do you put 70 growth rings per inch old growth outside in Illinois weather?

 

[DCBluesman]

Richard...any interest in selling 8-10 blanks. I'd stabilize em and make pens...after all, 70 year old trees deserve a respectful fate!

 

[low_48]

Lou,
I don't know how old this stuff is. The 70 growth rings are just in 1 inch of mat'l. Consider that it is from a 6" timber, that's 420 years old, and there is no sap wood in site. It's got to be 700 or 800 years old. That is probably conservative!! What do you think of $1 each. Add $3.85 for a flat rate envelope shipped. Just e-mail me with how many you want and your address.

Rich