Cedar has long been used in manufacturing of many items due to its various properties that make it good for construction. Cedar patio furniture is just one of many uses for cedar that has become so popular to the public, mostly because it is highly resistant to weather and abundantly found in the United States. Aside from outdoor furniture, what has cedar been used for in the past?
Cedar is a fairly common wood that has long been manufactured for a number of outdoor products. It is a hard wood that produces its own oils, making it quite weather resistant even if not treated with other substances (varnish or other oils). This means you can have unfinished cedar furniture and not worry as much about damage from the elements. However, when this was discovered, it was more important to manufacturers for use in making roof tiles and shingles, which were durable and wouldn’t crack or swell.
Another property of cedar log furniture that makes it highly popular is the aromatic perfume that is secreted by the oils in the wood, a scent not available from any other wood furniture. This aroma is pleasant to the senses but also functional in that it repels insects, especially moths. For this reason, the wood was used for building closets, hope chests, and storage bins in which clothes and other textiles were kept to ward off hungry bugs. As a bonus, the smell would permeate the clothing.
In recent years, there has been an increase in the desire for cedar outdoor furniture, and the demand has created a market for the wood across the country. Fortunately, there is no shortage of supply of this type of tree, since it can grow in most climates, even withstanding temperatures as low as -40 degrees. The abundance of raw material and the ease with which it can be worked into usable merchandise makes it one of the least expensive high-end wood products to use for garden furniture.
Cedar has also been used for indoor furniture, especially such items as wooden rocking chairs. While decorating an entire home or room with the wood could become overbearing in terms of the fragrance, individual pieces like this are common. Because of their durability, these chairs will become future antiques, and the cedar will last to be used as a family heirloom.
Currently, though, outdoor cedar furniture is the most popular use for the product, and as more and more people build decks or create gardens for themselves to enjoy, this will become an extremely common usage. Other types of log furniture are no longer satisfactory. Until a better source is identified or the world begins to run short of cedar, the trend is likely to continue.
