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It is not uncommon around here to find beautiful long boards of Western Red Cedar perfectly quartered without runout at the local mills. I know Cedar can vary quite a bit in terms of stiffness but is there any secret to judging the wood while still in board form? How is the wood chosen for people who sell cedar tops wholesale? I imagine it is just a "well you cut into it and see what you get", which is fine. If there is a trick, though, that would be cool.

Thanks,

Burton

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

Board form is tuff because you can't judge slope of the face grain (split wood allows you to physically see this and cut to minimise runnout). I have found medullary rays are a good visual indicator many times (look at a split face and you will see what I mean). WRC in particular seems to very a lot in terms of stiffness from billet to billet, so it is often a wild card as to stiffness until you get in there and cut it. Color can really vary, but a look at the outer surfaces can give you a pretty good clue as to what may be inside. As with any bit of wood you are going to cut for soundboards, watch for any small knots on all the surfaces. WRC I have run across does not seem abnormally prone to shake, but watch for indications of splitting. Any wood you cut for soundboard will be somewhat a wild card. If it is good looking stuff you will have a fair percentage of the wood that is "good" a small amount will be "really nice", and a small amount will be "not very good", and I never figure I will find "exceptional"(it happens, but is not something you can predict until it is cut, dried and surfaced). Always assume a billet will yeild lesser grades when you buy. If it looks really good, assume your going to get "good", if it looks "good" you have to figure your going to get "not very good". Buy "very good" and you will find you get a nice range that has a fair percentage of boards you would want to use(cut 100 sets, 10% you won't care for, 50% will be ok, 35% will be "better", maybe 5% will be really super cool).

Peace,Rich

Other than the obvious stuff (knots, grain preference, etc.), I'd dig into the
candidate boards with your fingernail.
You want cedar that fights back and isn't soft to the fingernail, and at the
same time isn't overly heavy...

Most of the Cedar I have dealt with doesn't have a great amount of twist (the chief cause of runout). Another condition that can cause runout in sawn lumber is extreme taper in the log.
You can tell if there's a lot of taper by laying a straight edge along a grain line close to one edge of the board. Then lay another along a line at the other edge... are the straight edges close to parrallel? If you have a good "eye", you can check this without the use of straight edges.

Silk is the best indicator. If your board is silky across the entire board on both sides, you'll probably be able to slice excellent tops from the timber.
I'd suggest buying two feet of the board & slicing it up. The proof will be in the stiffness. Cross grain stiffness degrades rapidly as the grain goes off quarter... Less so with runout. With Cedar, a relatively small amount of runout can cause a noticeable colour shift between the two pieces... Especially in the darker coloured wood.

This is all from my own fairly limited experience & I have no serious "study" to back up these first hand observations.
If you go for it, I'd be interested in a post telling us how it went!
Good luck,   Dan

Thanks very much for the feedback guys. I went back and gave it the once over again and decided to buy it and see what I get when I cut into it. I followed the cathedrals on the side grain and it appears to have little to no runout and I did the fingernail test on the cedar tops I have in my pile and the board fared the same as those. Once I cut into it I will post some photos. Thanks!

Burton

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

I look forward to it!

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