Species data
Eastern Redcedar
Juniperus virginiana - a softwood from eastern North America. Also sold as aromatic red cedar, red cedar.
Properties at a glance
| Janka hardness | 900 lbf |
| Stiffness (MOE) | 880,000 psi |
| Specific gravity | 0.53 |
| Density | 33.1 lb/ft3 (530 kg/m3) |
| Weight per board foot | 2.76 lb |
| Shrinkage, green to oven-dry | 4.7% tangential / 3.1% radial |
| Movement coefficient (CT / CR) | 0.00162 / 0.00106 |
| Indicative price | $4.50 per board foot (estimated) |
Values are at about 12% moisture content. Density is specific gravity times 62.4; a board foot is one twelfth of a cubic foot, so weight per board foot is that density divided by twelve. Anything marked estimated is our own figure, not a measured one.
How Eastern Redcedar compares
Measured against the 113 solid woods in this database: it is harder than 45% of them, heavier than 29%, and stiffer than 1%.
What that means in the shop
A 4/4 board 8 inches wide and 8 feet long is 5.33 board feet, so in Eastern Redcedar it weighs about 14.7 lb. A stack of ten is 147 lb - worth knowing before you load a rack or a car.
Against red oak, the trade's usual yardstick at 1,220 lbf, Eastern Redcedar is about 74% as hard and 76% as heavy.
Its shrinkage is 4.7% tangential against 3.1% radial, a ratio of 1.5 to 1. The wider that ratio, the more unevenly a flatsawn board moves across its width as humidity changes, and the more it wants to cup; anything near or above 2 to 1 is worth quartersawing or restraining for panels and wide tops. This one moves comparatively evenly.
Woods of similar hardness
Closest to Eastern Redcedar on hardness in this database: Honduran Mahogany (900 lbf), Monkeypod (900 lbf), Paper Birch (910 lbf), Hackberry (880 lbf). Similar hardness does not mean similar behaviour - check density and movement before substituting one for another.
Working with it
Workability. Apart from its knots it works easily; silica blunts cutters and the scent is strong
Durability. Superbly resistant to insects and rot; serves untreated even in ground contact
Typical uses. fence posts, closet and chest linings, carvings, outdoor furniture, pencils.
Related calculators
Sources
- The Wood Database - Eastern Redcedar
- Dimensional change coefficient table (Hoadley / FPL Wood Handbook), reproduced by Popular Woodworking
MOE, SG (12% MC), Janka and shrinkage from The Wood Database (cites USDA FPL Wood Handbook). CT/CR from the "Cedar, eastern red" row of the FPL/Hoadley table. Uses, region, durability and workability summarized from The Wood Database. Price indicative.
These calculators are for planning and estimation. Engineering results (shelf sag, wood movement) use published average material properties; real boards vary by grade, grain, moisture and defects. Verify load-bearing designs with a professional.