I’ve always been a big fan of reclaimed wood, so when my GF’s neighbor had their fence replaced, I grabbed about 10 sections so as to have a bunch of weathered cedar. It’s cool stuff, I am building a Colorado flag out of it (because I live there and Colorado is AWESOME), plus I have some ideas for furniture.
So I started off with 1/2 inch thick (maybe a little more) just to see what I could cut out on the GF. Settings were 100 speed, 95% power and .5 for height. Is it bad to have flames coming off of the wood when “cutting”? I stopped it about 30 seconds in, not wanting to damage a $6000 machine, and figured I’m only going to look at one side, so a quick trip to the table saw, rip the width down to 1/4 inch, and re-cut. This is what I got:
The only flames I have seen are usually going MPH towards the front door, so not really a danger to the machine head.
Even some paper burn and sparks from rock//tile all head south at bed level.
I’ve done a couple of things (they should show up if you search on “aged cedar”) and have more planned. You can definitely get some good flames going on it! Cutting through it is a challenge, and if there’s a knot where you want to cut, you can pretty much forget it. I’ve managed to do some cutouts, though:
Chuckle! Yeah, I’ve seen them. You had me rummaging through the neighbor’s fence slats (which he dumped behind his fence) but those were all really torn up by his dog.
I might have to just pick up a few new and age them myself - it doesn’t take long around here.
You can always age cedar with a mix of steel wool and vinegar set to brew for a couple of hours or days. As well as drill and a wire wheel to distress it. Really soft material and great for sign projects.
I stopped it about 30 seconds in, not wanting to damage a $6000 machine, and figured I’m only going to look at one side, so a quick trip to the table saw, rip the width down to 1/4 inch, and re-cut. This is what I got:
