Woodworking

[MrChickyBaBa]

I have a question about sawing you're own cedar for tongue and groove siding. I am in a few years going to be adding on to my home, I would like to finish the inside with cedar siding cut off of my farm. My questions are would it be best to cut the cedars now so that they can dry out and then have them sawed into siding or would it be better to cut, have turned into siding and then let dry before hanging for siding. I don't have a lot of experience with this so was wondering if anyone on here has any experiences with doing this. Seems like it would be better to go ahead and cut it and let it dry for a while after it was cut into siding

[CMorg]

I dont have alot of experiance in this area. But I would like to think you should cut it down and then when dry have it cut. Otherwise it would probably dry and shrink or expand and not fit together propery.

[jwp]

Cedar is pretty stable. I have worked with it alot, including cutting it off the farm and making lumber. I would advise cutting it, having it milled green, then storing it under a roof, elevated off the ground at least a foot, separated in layers (1" air gap between layers, supported at least every 4' to keep the boards from sagging). We call this "stickering" when you lay 1" x 1" sticks across the boards, separating each layer. This will help the lumber dry. Also make sure the pile is level or at least on the same plane so the boards don't twist or bend.

[waterdog101]

Cedar is pretty stable. I have worked with it alot, including cutting it off the farm and making lumber. I would advise cutting it, having it milled green, then storing it under a roof, elevated off the ground at least a foot, separated in layers (1" air gap between layers, supported at least every 4' to keep the boards from sagging). We call this "stickering" when you lay 1" x 1" sticks across the boards, separating each layer. This will help the lumber dry. Also make sure the pile is level or at least on the same plane so the boards don't twist or bend.

good advice, he may also. want to find someone, that has a band saw. that will make him a deal, on sawing his lumber before he cuts his logs. i cut some popular logs, thinking it would be easy, to get someone to saw them. and two different guys kept putting me off a month or two at a time. untill some of my good popular logs split and cracked open.