I'm building a cedar chest for a client and was going to line the bottom, sides and ends with T&E cedar. However, they have heard that doing it that way would yield too strong an aroma. Should just the bottom be lined? What is your experience? Thanks in advance for your suggestions...
Les
Tue, Jun 26, 2007, 12:46pm (EDT-3) From: snipped-for-privacy@onu.edu (LesT) I'm building a cedar chest for a client and was going to line the bottom, sides and ends with T&E cedar. However, they have heard that doing it that way would yield too strong an aroma. Should just the bottom be lined? What is your experience? Thanks in advance for your suggestions...
It's early, and I haven't finished by cuppa yet, so what's T&E? If you line it with cedar, it isn't a cedar chest, it's a chest lined with cedar. My experience is, a cedar chest is made out of cedar. If you're that worried about it, send the extra cedar to me, as a sacrifice for the Woodworking Gods.
JOAT If a man does his best, what else is there?
- General George S. Patton
Do it the way they want it. Won't be a cedar chest but that's their problem. I wonder if they have heard that the odor diminishes - markedly - over time (it does).
Line it with T & G cedar, let them smell it, if it is too strong go to wal-mart and get a can of thier cheap clear plastic spray finish and spray it on the cedar, it will kill the cedar smell. When the cedar smell fades, which it will, a light sanding will bring it back.>
I've built three down through the years, the latest just this past December:
IMO, this is what makes it a "cedar" chest, even though the aromatic cedar is a "secondary" wood.
That said, dadiOH is right on in saying that the client should be the one to make the final decision ... but only after you make known to them that the cedar aroma will most definitely diminish with age (although it can be refreshed for many years to come with just a light sanding).
Thanks to all who have responded - (T&E should have been T&G (tongue and groove)) Some very good ideas on how to deal with the situation.
Very nice chest Swingman. I'll try to remember to post some pictures when my project is done.
Thanks again!
It's the client's call in the end (even when they're wrong), but you can advise and educate them.
If you're a factory, timber costs are important. If you're doing one-off handwork though, you should be charging enough that you don't have to worry about this (if the trees are getting paid more than you are, you're under-pricing yourself). So don't cut corners just to save timber.
If you're using Spanish cedar for a humidor, you line it. You line it because it's a lining for humidity reasons, not for the smell. Little inlays just don't do it.
If you're using a "typical cedar", i.e. anything other than true Lebanon cedar, then you're not going to over-do the smell no matter how much you use.
_Possibly_, if you were using Lebanon (which no-one can find or afford anyway, unless it's storm damage) then there might be an "excess" argument here. Otherwise it's just not an issue.
There's also no reason _to_ fully line a cedar chest. It's not a lining, it's a smell-producing lump big enough to do the job. Just throw a wooden brick in there and it's functionally the same thing.
Personally I fully line my small boxes (usually with lime, as I can't get Japanese timbers or Paulownia) but I don't fully line big chests with cedar. This is for mechanical reasons. I do usually line the floor of a big chest with cedar and that's quite sufficient to give as much aroma as you might want for linens. Lining the lid too is a good idea, because otherwise the customer can't smell it so easily when it's full of sweaters, even if the moths still can. I've also used frame and panel constuction chests where I've doubled the panels and used cedar on the inside within an oak frame. I've not yet made (and don't plan to make) a big clothes-storage chest with a full-surface cedar lining inside it.
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