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Am I the only one who remembers when a cedar fence would look good for a decade?
I put up a cedar fence for a customer in my town about seven years ago. It was a standard six foot privacy job, stained with a good quality semi-transparent oil. I drove past it the other day and it looked gray and splintered, like it was twenty years old. Back when I started, that same fence with the same care would have held its color and tight grain for way longer. Now it feels like the wood quality from the big box suppliers has gone way down. You get more knots, the boards cup faster, and they just don't take a stain the same. It's frustrating because you charge for a premium product but the materials don't back it up anymore. What are you guys using for cedar that actually lasts?
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allen.cole4mo ago
The last batch I grabbed from a big box had so many loose knots I could push them out with my thumb. I used to think any cedar would do the job, but @perry.nancy is spot on about the younger trees. That batch looked like garbage inside a year, gray and rough. Finding a small mill that cuts slower grown stuff made a huge difference for me.
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perry.nancy6mo ago
Yeah, it's not just you. The cedar from the big yards these days is basically junk wood they're calling premium. I mean, you're totally right about the knots and the cupping. It feels like they're cutting younger trees or something, so the grain is all loose and it just drinks stain unevenly. Makes the whole job look bad way too fast, and then the customer thinks you did something wrong.
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