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

I’m going to build an open air pavilion on a property of ours in northern Idaho. It’ll have six 10”-12” diameter posts holding up a single pitch roof 12’ high in front and 9’ in back. Dimensions roughly 10’x20’. The poles will not be in the ground but on top of sonotubes.

I have an abundance of red cedar, douglas fir, and ponderosa pine growing on the place.

Which would you use and why?

How old are you and how long do you intend it to last.

If you don't care much, go with whatever suits your mood.

If I wanted it last for a long ass time I'd be going with the cedar, especially if I had access to it on my property and didn't have to pay for it.

Good luck with it and ...........................pics or it never happened.

Seems like any of those would work just fine?

Agree

Sounds fun!

Not the pine, unless your ponderosa pine behaves differently than what we have around here. Cedar is much more rot-resistant than fir (or pine) which may not be real relevant in Idaho and not in ground contact. I’m not familiar with building structures with red cedar so I don’t have any sense of its mechanical properties. I’ve just decked with it. The cedar we have around here is generally weaker than fir. Hard to imagine that mattering with a big thick post, though, unless you have really high winds or something.

I dunno. I’ve built a bunch of buildings with fir. Hard to go wrong there. Take the bark off or you’ll get bugs under it.

Be aware it’s possible to develop a severe allergy to cedar sawdust. I know, I did it. I have a dead one I can see out my kitchen window I could cut down and process in a half-hour if it was any other wood. I’m scared to death of it, grin. If you start getting goopy eyes and bumps on your lips after working with it, STOP WORKING WITH IT.

Go with the cedar. Bug proof and rot resistant.

Yes,, the cedar, water seal?

Cedar

Cedar, just make sure they are solid. Large diameter Cedar can often times get soft and even hollow in the center.

Sounds like a great project. I hope you post some pictures of it.

No way on the pine. I'd go Red Fir and save the cedar for the market someday. Cedar prices were crazy high a few years ago. Either Cedar of RF will outlast you so no problems with longevity.

What Lonny said.

Cedar, first last and always...do not treat it...go back to sleep Wabi.

Cedar if you'll stay there for a while .

Funny thing about the OP, goes back to earlier times. I always had a knack for woodcraft, and a short time after I retired a hurricane wandered by. All the sudden I had about 1,600 board feet of cedar salvaged from the yard. Been very useful for many things.

Rubbing shoulders with other folks along the way I realized that most, even some of the pros, do not realize the worth of some trees and simple dispose of them by fire or a trip to the landfill. Use your Googlefoo and check the value of a few local trees, such as Cedar, Camphor, Magnolia, Hickory to name a few.

Your own sawmill would make it easier to cash in on all that lumber too. You're right, allot of excellent wood goes to waste.

Yep

Okay, I just tossed the pine into the mix because I have more of those and they’re easier to get to. Figured they’d be the first to be cut (pun intended) from consideration.

I will never be marketing the cedars so I’m not worried about their potential value as far as that goes. I kinda figured that would be the favored wood.

My plan is to drop however many trees I need this summer/fall, cut the logs to approximate lengths and stow them away under a roof till next spring.

Any thoughts or suggestions on this project will be greatly appreciated.

Ponderosa Pine (yellow pine) makes nice siding if you want board and batten type siding. Working in the sawmill and dealing with railroad ties made out of Ponderosa Pine nearly killed me it is so heavy.

After you have your poles selected and cut, I would peel them, it would help them to dry.

If there is no contact with the ground, it really doesn't matter much. Cedar that size is likely to have less limbs and be straighter. My house is built mostly of lodgepole pine (with a few pieces of spruce and some white fir here and there). Been here for 33 years and has not rotted away yet. Have had an issue with ants from time to time. I figure it has to make it ten more years and I won't care anymore! GD