Red Cedar Shakes - 30' Tapersplits

[G.A.gigger]

hi there ... i have been in the business for many years and i am situated in B.C. I have done many flyouts of blocks and i now make fence rails and do 18" handsplits .i remember getting some of the old cutout sheets from the mills and we used to get well over 11 square per cord on 24" blocks ... it was nice wood ... i love working with it .... treat it like an artist and get the best utilization ...

[condor]

All I can say is simply amazing. Great job. Kind of sad thinking 600 years of growth comes to this but what an amazing skill and set of tools you have

[hansnelsen]

Love what you are doing and love the shakes! I gotta tell you, I've owned a froe since 1969 and I make splits from very much less than perfect wood. I create some very interesting cedar sidewall coverings. The good ones I can save for a roof, but they can be a bit less than perfect, too.
Keep it up, man!!

[BO_Riddle]

Watching him split the wood was very satisfying.

[Slangevar]

Thanks Lloyd- I wish I had seen your demonstration before I put asphalt shingle on my English style cottage.

[woodroofguy]

Howdy - when we flip the block, the wood naturally tapers from a thick butt end to a thinner tip. If we don't flip the block, the shake will split with the same thickness for the whole length. This is the case no matter how long the shake - but the amount of taper remains the same - relatively speaking.

In 25 years, I don't think I have ever heard a good explanation why the wood naturally tapers when the block is flipped...

I hope that helps! Many thanks for saying hello!

[JasonMichaelKotarski]

well done. Thank you for showing. That will be a beautiful architectural detail. 

[backyardbirbsma]

those are some clean splits, well done!

[sweepeasu]

woodroofguy is a wood artist. Fantastic

[kbsvj]

600 year old wood, oh what that tree had witnessed before it was harvested. One question, will the sap wood hold up as light my as the darker heart wood?

[bloodysandlover]

this is a pretty satisfying video to watch

[discountbrains]

That's very nice and esthetic, but like u said, there are very few pieces of wood available to do this and this is really hard to do without Western Red Cedar which also has a limited habitat. This is why I made my machine which can be seen at "Homemade shingle/veneer making machine". Clearly, its not as esthetic as this, but I can use logs with small knots and imperfect grain. I can overlap my shingles and try to use the minimum amount of staples and glue. With enough glue panels can be made much like solid wood.

[aeward]

Great video. Can you make shakes using teak or other type of durable wood available in the tropics? Thank you.

[douglas]

Hello sir, so is the grain or rings at 90 deg. to the shingle faces.??? Thanks if you can help me with that info.

[nellieappleby]

so cool! is anybody doing it with Eastern Cedar? thx!

[woodroofguy]

Hi Wayne - yes, when you flip the block end over end and split, the wood tapers naturally. If you don't flip the block, it will split straight, giving a uniform thickness. This is the case on the edge grain face. I forget if that is the case on the flat grain face. Note - i have never been given a good explanation why the wood tapers as it does... Anyone out there know why?

[Blimkat]

Wow I would have not expected it to split that easily, very cool. I have been thinking about trying this for small sheds however I am in the east so I will never find eastern cedar that size haha. I figure I can still make some cedar shakes but much smaller. Do you have a video applying and installing the finished product?

[woodroofguy]

@henryzimmer - Thanks Henry!
Working 8 hours with good wood, I could produce about 20 bundles. This is equal to approx 900 shakes = approx 160 lineal meters = approx 37 m2 based on an 23cm exposure (3 layers of wood). It is pretty slow work with this long length.

[Gains_Monsoon]

Can you use fresh cut wood? If not how long should the cedar dry for?

[scottmenard]

Hi Lloyd, can you lead me to where I can purchase cedar such as this for my own hand splits? I'm in northern New Hampshire