Do you Guys that split by hand want to give this a go? it’s a cedar tree out of my backyard western red cedar I believe. It’s not very good firewood and I wouldn’t of messed with it if it wasn’t right in my yard. Smells nice in the campfire so I saved some big splits to put in that pile.
Looks more like Eastern Red cedar IMO. Same tree used in cedar chests and closets. I have some 4-6' logs maybe 8-10" diameter in my processing area that i dont have the heart to turn into firewood. Id like to make some lumber from them. I did see these at the dump a couple weeks back. Didnt take any, but it smelled a lot better than wet mulch and compost after the rain had just stopped. I know Midwinter has processed some. I never have. Did it split easy by hand?
The heartwood color matches your gas can. It looks pink in the photo. Naw, I'll pass on splitting that ...
It's definitely not Western cedar. I just split 3 trees of it in my backyard last summer. And it was a JOY to split.
The knots are very tough, but if you can split around them it's doable. Red cedar ( and arborvitae) are easier to hand split when dry. What I did was halve or quarter them, let them dry ( doesn't take long) and then pound them through the kindling cracker ( I have the larger one), while avoiding the knots. Great kindling. Recently I put some through the gas splitter that's in my driveway, and I'm kind of sorry I did it. It's a stringy, tangled, space- consuming mess.
Made a rustic outdoor bar out of it once. Oh yeah, 8’ vanity in master bath is entirely aromatic cedar with a touch of oak pin striping.
We cut some that was 8-10" diameter a few years back and cut it all up into 2" thick rounds and put a piece in every closet. Then we gave the rest to friends and family that wanted some for their houses.
Looks like juniper to me. It's a cedar subspecies. Lots of it in the semi- arid "hi desert" areas of Oregon, Nevada, Idaho and Montana.
Eastern Red Cedar is technically a juniper: Juniperus virginiana A lot of U.S. native plants seem to have virginiana or canadensis as their species name. I’m just sharing because I was surprised to learn that these sizable trees were junipers.
Rocky mountain juniper is often called western red cedar. Eastern white cedar is actually a cypress. Termites not liking them and being resistant to rot is a myth. I have a few left on my property and there are a few the deer have missed and I'll cut trees down around them to give them access to the canopy. There used to be many more here but they were valued for shingles and things and red maple and deer destroy and displace them.
