Cedar Gallery

A quiet room for cedar in all its forms.

About Cedar

Cedar has a way of carrying its seasons with it.

Even fresh off the planer, it brings the warmth of summer into a cold shop. It’s light in the hand, steady under the plane, and honest about where it’s been — knots, streaks, scars, and all.

There’s often tight grain and deep colour waiting to breathe. It’s a material that rewards patience, and it never minds being worked hard.

Close-up of a cedar deck chair leg standing on a workbench in a woodworking shop.

A small wooden cedar stool with a circular top and four legs, placed on a wooden deck with a natural outdoor background.

Cedar builds aren’t fussy

They’re meant for weather, for use, for years of sun and snow. Chairs, benches, siding, planters — pieces that live outside, gather stories, and keep going. This gallery is a simple walk through cedar as it shows up in the shop and around the yard: raw boards, work in progress, and finished pieces doing their job.

Every board has a story if you’re willing to look.

Shop Rambles

Cedar

If you’ve ever wondered why cedar is so light, so aromatic, and so naturally rot‑resistant, the answer goes back 70 million years. This story explores the science behind cedar’s behaviour, its deep‑time evolution, and why it remains one of the most forgiving woods in the shop.

Old Cedar

The cedar we tore off the old decks looked finished — soft, rotten, and ready for the dump. But once the boards dried and the first passes through the planer cut through the weathered surface, the wood showed tight grain, rich colour, and old‑growth strength. This Ramble follows the reclaimed cedar from demolition pile to Muskoka chairs, tracing the milling, the grain, the lessons with Leo, and how fifty‑year‑old lumber found a second life.

Cedar Block Therapy

Cedar blocks are the simplest form of the material — small, warm, and honest. No joinery, no fuss, no finish to chase. Just cedar doing what cedar does best: offering a bit of calm.

Cedar blocks are also used in therapeutic movement work, where their natural warmth and gentle weight help support the body in slow, restorative positions. The material has a steadiness to it that people appreciate — something real to lean into, breathe against, or rest on.

Simple tools. Natural material. A quiet way to reset.

Fresh off the planer, the blocks carry that same sap‑rich scent that fills the shop during a milling day. They’re smooth, light, and warm to the touch, almost like holding a piece of summer in your hand. Some come from clean boards, others from weathered stock with fifty years of grain and story in them — either way, they feel grounded.