Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Cedar vs douglas fir vs ponderosa pine

In my climate things will rot even when they aren’t in ground contact due to moisture.

I hear you on the last part, but I take an opposite approach. I like to build things, and when I do, the goal is always to have someone standing there looking at it long after I’m gone and say, wow, someone really did a good job on this!

When I see old stuff built really well I always give props to whoever cared enough to do it right all those years ago.

I will acknowledge the human vanity in that. I have also stood looking at really “built” old stuff and thought, it’s an illusion to think we have that kind of control… time takes away everything.

But we can fight the good fight!

OP, when I built my wife a small barn I framed it with hardwood logs I got from my woods. Anything in contact with the (massively overbuilt, lol) concrete piers I poured in place, was soaked for a week in Jasco wood preservative. In other words I soaked the bottom several inches of the posts. 25 years later it’s lookin’ good off to my left as I type this. BUT, do not leave the bark on the posts! I did, it’s a mistake. It looks great but will attract boring insects.

Okay, I started cutting the cedar logs I’m gonna be needing for my little project next year. I’m poking them into my barn that’s open on one end. They’re up off the concrete floor and not stacked on top of each other. So they’re under a roof and will have good air circulation.

So far I have found one dead and still standing with no rot but a sizable crack, about 1/4-1/3 of the diameter, running end to end. I’m not real happy about the crack but I don’t think it’ll be an issue. The others so far have been live trees and solid with no cracks, …yet.

These logs will be setting until April-May before I start, will this 8-9 months be long enough?

I think you will be just fine, logs can dry well in the winter when it's heavy frost at night and warm afternoons...Western Red Cedar is stable as hell. You will get some warpage where half a beam or board is heart as you know...but also the yellowish sapwood can exert a lot of stress. Sounds to me like you know what you are doing though. If your logs are large enough, do try to quarter saw the structural beams, cedar as you know is inherently weak, just saw your load bearing beams a little thicker and wider...depending on snow loads where you live. With cedar and redwood, we don't bother with painting the ends to prevent checking...we are making lumber for pole barns and sheds...not pianos.