Is Spanish Cedar good for wood planking?

[JimArr]

My local Lowes store has some cedar fencing boards that they claim has a "golden yellow hue".  When I contacted Lowes to find out what type of cedar it was, they told me it was Spanish Cedar.  It is pretty inexpensive so was wondering how well would this wood work as a planking material?

 

Jim

[ccoyle]

Doesn't sound like good modeling wood.

 

https://www.wood-database.com/spanish-cedar/

[Bob Cleek]

I have my doubts about it being Spanish Cedar. Spanish Cedar is getting close to being on the "no-no list" due to deforestation. It's traditionally been used for wooden cigar boxes due to its aromatic qualities. A lot of amateur modelers in "the dark ages" used recycled wooden cigar boxes for ship modeling. Wooden cigar boxes were plentiful in the days when many smoked cigars but you'd be hard-pressed to find one today.  It's closer to a mahogany than a cedar.  I find it hard to believe Lowe's is importing Spanish Cedar fence boards. I bought three fence boards at Lowes about a year ago to repair a fence. They were your basic domestic crap cedar fence material. Suitable for the use intended, as they say, but nothing I'd waste time trying to use for modeling. Making a silk purse out of a sow's ear may be possible, but in this instance, I'd not think it would be worth the trouble. We use so little wood in modeling, it's a false economy to work with really cheap construction grade lumber. Your time and skill are worth more than that.

[JimArr]

Thanks all.

 

Jim

[Carlos Reira]

Yeah, there's no way that's Spanish cedar (cedrela odorata) which is the wood that cigar humidors use. So if it looks and smells like a cigar box, it's cedrela, a Latin American hardwood which isn't a true cedar. But...could be some really nice American wood like Atlantic white cedar, a legendary boat building wood. More likely Northern white cedar. If it looks like the shims that they sell, you know the bundles that are really low grade rood shingles. Those are Northern white from Canada. Very nice, light weight wood. Won't bend worth a crap though.