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I just visited a friend of mine who had a nice redwood log lying around. I said, "hey, can I have a chunk?" Anyway, I came home with this.



Not sure I'll get any tops (will need to be 3 to 4 piece tops) out of it, but I thought - what about brace wood? Has anyone used Redwood for braces? Since I can split this they will be perfectly quartered, though not a tone of rings/inch.

I'm hoping even if I can't get any usable "good" tops out of it, I'll definitely get some good practice tops for prototypes, etc. Since I can only resaw 6" I'll have to break out the hand saw and do the Padma, and cut over a few days or weeks.

Advice wanted.
Steve

Not to rain on your parade and though it might work most redwood that one would consider using is from trees at least several hundred years old. That is a baby you have there.

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http://goatrockukulele.com

redwood is prone to shearing and is not good for braces. doesn't glue well either.

I would use it for top... If you can get a split top, clear of runout... doesn't matter if you do a 4 pieces top.

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

I realize this is in no wise any type of redwood any reputable seller would sell, but I was mostly curious for bracewood. I'll still planing on using some - if I can get it to a workable size - as practice wood. No harm in that.

I've not seen anyone use redwood for bracewood before, thus the question.

At least my garage smells wonderful.
Steve

I say give it a shot and see how you like it. I have a few sticks of redwood brace stock from Allied's weekly special page, and while it does split more easily than spruce, I'm not convinced that it's worthless. It's so light weight and stiff, and the color is nice for back braces with darker woods. I might not do a lot of hard percussive playing on a top braced with it, but then I'd be wary about that on a thin redwood plate as well. Don't forget to make your braces a bit taller than usual though! Also, triangular cross section seems a bit iffy, with the point of the triangle being so easily split off. I plan to round them over a bit more than I do on spruce. Maybe not quite parabolic, but headed that way.

But it might be smarter to listen to Mark, since I'm only on #3, and haven't tried gluing redwood to learn what difficulties everyone talks about yet

4 piece tops are definitely good though. Sapwood stripe up the center would look pretty cool, I think

I completely missed Mark's comment. I'll defer to the experts and just use this to keep my Garage smelling nice.

Steve

I never had any green redwood, but working aged wood does not generate a nice smell. Are you sure that you do not have a chunk of cedar?

You know... I never thought of that. They guy told me it was redwood, but ...

I'll hack some off and take a closer picture for you to see. The smell is definitely cedar. Maybe I can get some cedar braces out of this after all if it is cedar. Sure is pretty.

-s

Definitely Cedar. Garbage at that.

What I learned.
* it's fun to dream
* nothing like getting our hands dirty to "feel the wood"
* stick to reputable luthier suppliers for wood

-Steve