Western Red Cedar is quality, beautiful, durable, versatile, easy to use and maintain.

• As one of North America’s most durable woods, it lasts for decades and even centuries. Natural resistance to deterioration has long made Western Red Cedar the premier choice for either interior or exterior home use. Cedar fibres contain natural compounds called thujaplicins that act as natural preservatives, making the wood extremely long-lasting. Properly finished, Western Red Cedar will last for decades, even in harsh environments. These compounds also give the wood its distinct aroma.

• Light in weight. Western Red Cedar’s large, open cell structure makes it less dense than most other softwoods. This quality makes it easy to move from place to place on the job.

• Uniformly textured, straight-grained and containing no resin. The even grain and relatively consistent density make Western Red Cedar less likely to swell, warp, cup and twist than other soft and hard woods. As a result, it retains a distinguished appearance that lends a mark of quality to any home.

• Western Red Cedar is easy to work with. Low density and consistency make it an ideal wood to cut, saw, nail and glue. Even a handsaw goes through the wood easily.

• A favorite material of architects and builders, Western Red Cedar is beautiful, in both sight and scent. No man-made material can duplicate the depth of Western Red Cedar’s natural luster. Its subtle, natural aroma is another hallmark of its universal appeal.

• Cedar’s ability to accept stains means its beauty comes in many hues. In finishes, Western Red Cedar offers a rainbow of choices. Though rich in extractives that enhance durability, Western Red Cedar is free of the pitch and resin found in other softwoods. That makes it ideal for a wide range of finishes. From lightly toned clear solutions to two-coat solid colors, cedar ranks at the top in its ability to accept and maintain a finish.

• It’s warm – or cool. Western Red Cedar’s low density increases the insulation of a home by transporting less heat through interior wall paneling or exterior wall siding than brick or stone, vinyl or gypsum drywall. Conversely, it helps keep interiors warmer in cold weather.

• Western Red Cedar’s insulation blocks noise. As an interior paneling or exterior siding, the low density of Western Red Cedar makes it an acoustical barrier of much greater quality than most products marketed for those applications.

This article has been supplied courtesy of the Western Red Cedar Lumber Association
 www.wrcla.org

Western Red Cedar (huja plicata) is a species of Thuja, an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae native to western North America.

Western Red Cedar is native to the northwestern United States and southwestern Canada. Currently, Western Red Cedar comprises about twenty percent of the region’s forests.

Western Red Cedar is among the most widespread trees in the Pacific Northwest, and is associated with Douglas-fir and western hemlock in most places where it grows. The tree is shade-tolerant, and able to reproduce under dense shade.

It has been introduced to other temperate zones, including western Europe, southern Australia, New Zealand, the eastern United States, and higher elevations of Hawaii. The species is naturalized in Britain.

It is a large to very large tree, ranging up to 65–70 metres tall and 3–4 metres in trunk diameter, exceptionally even larger. It is long-lived; some individuals can live well over a thousand years, with the oldest verified being 1,460 years.

The foliage forms flat sprays with scale-like leaves in opposite pairs, with successive pairs at 90° to each other. The foliage sprays are green above, and green marked with whitish stomatal bands below; they are strongly aromatic, with a scent reminiscent of pineapple when crushed.

Western Red Cedar has an extensive history of use by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast – some tribes refer to themselves as “people of the red cedar” because of their extensive dependence on the tree for basic materials. The wood has been used for constructing housing, totem poles, and crafted into many objects, including masks, utensils, boxes, boards, instruments, canoes, vessels, and ceremonial objects. Roots and bark were used for baskets, ropes, clothing, blankets and rings.

The soft red-brown timber has a tight, straight grain and few knots. It is valued for its distinct appearance, aroma, and its high natural resistance to decay, being extensively used for outdoor construction in the form of posts, decking, shingles and siding.

It is also widely used throughout Europe and America for making beehives. It is cultivated as an ornamental tree, to a limited extent in forestry plantations and for screens and hedges.

It is also used to line closets and chests, for its pungent aromatic oils are believed to discourage moth and carpet beetle larvae, which can damage cloth by eating wool and similar fibres. This is more effective in a properly constructed red cedar chest (sometimes made entirely of red cedar), since the oils are confined by shellac and leather seals. A well-sealed red cedar chest will retain its pungent odour for many decades, sometimes for over a century.

Its light weight, strength and dark warm sound make it a popular choice for guitar soundboards.

Thujaplicin, a chemical substance, is found in mature trees and serves as a natural fungicide, thereby preventing the wood from rotting. This effect lasts around a century even after the tree is felled. However, thujaplicin is only found in older trees.