# Cedar planks



## Youda97 (Mar 3, 2013)

I love cooking salmon on cedar planks. However they are very spendy in my opinion. Is there a diffrence between the planks you buy and going to Home Depot to buy a piece of cedar? Thanks


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## CWS4322 (Mar 3, 2013)

I have no idea. A local sawmill might have cedar wood that you could get and use those. I use slab wood for planks. I soak them in either a Rubbermaid bin or the bathtub (DH built a sawmill at the farm, so I have access to lots of slab wood and that's what I use). I agree, the price for planks is ridiculous. I think we usually pay around  under 30 cents per board foot when we buy saw logs.


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## Zagut (Mar 4, 2013)

Get the cedar at Home Depot if it's cheaper. There is no difference in the wood. Any extra expence is for Company X  to cut , shape and package it. If it was me I'd find the cheapest cedar I could because eventually your going to burn it up.


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## forty_caliber (Mar 4, 2013)

Look for cedar roof shakes at the lumber yard. 

.40


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## Zagut (Mar 4, 2013)

Aren't those kind of thin?

1/2 at the thickest to nothing in 18".

Guess they'd be good for one time use.


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## taxlady (Mar 4, 2013)

I would want to make sure that sawmill cedar hadn't been treated for anything.


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## Steve Kroll (Mar 4, 2013)

taxlady said:


> I would want to make sure that sawmill cedar hadn't been treated for anything.


Absolutely! Note that some pressure treated lumber - and in particular, shakes and shingles - has been treated with a wood preservative known as CCA (aka copper, chromium, and arsenic... none of which you want to ingest).

More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromated_copper_arsenate


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## Zagut (Mar 4, 2013)

CCA treated lumber use is highly curtailed these days.
It is used mostly for pine-SPF.
Cedar is naturally resistant to rot so it is not usually treated.
It's just not rated for ground contact.
Any Cedar I've seen at Home Depot is not treated and I've never seen shakes that were treated either. If it was it would be labled as such.
Check the local lumber yards. They may have a lower price then HD.
Cedar has gone up a lot in price in the last year.
Don't use it for cooking if it has been treated but I think that most you'll find will be fine for use.


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## CWS4322 (Mar 4, 2013)

The cedar we get is in "saw log form" and not treated. It is usually just hauled out of the bush and still green.  We buy red cedar logs from out west, but have used white cedar we've hauled in from our bush (or a neighbour's bush). We don't treat our wood, but we are a home sawmill, not commercial.


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## roadfix (Mar 4, 2013)

I've experimented with Home Depot cedar and for some reason they were just not the same.


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