Wellingtonia - Sequoiadendron giganteum (Giant Redwood)

[Harbo]

I have been offered some sawn boards of Wellingtonia - has anybody used it?
Terry Porter does not cover it - only to say "that it is not used commercially".
He does feature Sequoia Sempervirens (Calif. Redwood) which is reasonable to work.
When sawn it is a very bright red colour but I have been told it mellows to a brown?

Rod :?

 

[Steve Maskery]

Hi Rod
I once built a Peacock House in the Mohave Desert using this stuff. At least, it was called Redwood and came from California, so I assume it was the same or similar. IIRC it was very light indeed, it was easy to carry a 12'x12" board on my own. It was rather coarse too,as I recall.

We were just using it as wall boards, nailing it to a 4x2 framework and covering the joints with 1x1 strips. All very crude but traditional out there.

We didn't have to do any planing, it was just sawn and trhen painted white so I don't know what it would be like as a furniture timber, but it certainly waasn't what I would call beautiful.

The trees themselves are awesome, of course.
S

 

[pitch pine]

There is some of this in a yard local to me. When freshly cut it is a vivid pink colour. Very light in weight and it does go brown after a while. At the time I was looking for shingle making wood but didn't use it in the end.

 

[matthewwh]

I got hold of some from a neighbour who has one in his garden. It shed a limb in a storm (the limb was 40 feet long) and after a bit of sawing and drying some of it ended up on my bench.

It's very similar to pine, though softer and lighter in weight and, as previously mentioned, shocking pink when freshly cut. Any knots tend to be incredibly hard, which with the very soft surrounding timber can be a pain in the 4R53.

Other than that though, its very easy to work and shimmers beautifully when you take a sharp plane to it - makes a lovely contrast timber with other softwoods.

 

[James A Larsen]

I have been offered some sawn boards of Wellingtonia - has anybody used it?
Terry Porter does not cover it - only to say "that it is not used commercially".
He does feature Sequoia Sempervirens (Calif. Redwood) which is reasonable to work.
When sawn it is a very bright red colour but I have been told it mellows to a brown?

I worked with redwood quite a lot in the 1970s in Colorado building deck and exterior trim on homes. It is quite soft and not strong at all. Also it shrinkes in length mabey 1/2 inch in 12 feet when dry. Jim

 

[Corset]

When i was on holiday i saw the "Giant Redwoods" which are very nice trees. The national park says the main use is for matchsticks as the wood is a bit soft. However i would think this could be taken with a pinch of salt as they were probably trying to stop people chopping them down.
Owen