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What wood is comparable to White Cedar.......


thull

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I checked out the wooden boat forum and this is what Bob Smalser had to say. 

 

Our three "lightweight" cedars are predominantly used as planking woods for in thicknesses varying from 3/8" to 1 1/4" on boats up to around 35'. They are around 25% lighter (and correspondingly weaker) and proportionally more stable than our four "heavy" cedars, which are generally used to plank larger boats and also sometimes for framing.

The heavy cedars are Alaska Yellow, Port Orford and Eastern Red Cedar. These are closer to Doug Fir in weight, hardness and strength than they are to the light cedars. Baldcypress has similar properties and can also be included in this group, as most of the trees we call "cedars" are really in the cypress family. Eastern Red is the heaviest of the group and not normally used for boatbuilding.

The light cedars are Northern White (Arborvitae), Atlantic White (Juniper) and Western Red. Of the three, NW is lightest by a slight degree and bends the best. The trees are generally quite small however, with usually only knotty flatsawn stock available. Western Red comes from the largest tree, making clear, stable vertical grain stock easily available, but is a significantly stiffer wood than the other two. All have rot resistant heartwood, all are easy and pleasant to work, all take glue exceptionally well, and all are among the most seasonally stable of woods. Qsawn light cedar panels through widths of around three feet can be successfully epoxied and glassed just like plywood. They are also relatively soft, but boats protected by nothing but paint hold up very well in hard use.

 

I personally have used California redwood sold as porch decking sawn into thin strips.  I don't know if it is still readily available. 

 

If you want a general description of woods used in boat building check out this page from Glen-L https://www.glen-l.com/wood-plywood/bb-chap5d.html 

 

Tom 

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