Spanish Cedar Rough Lumber — Aromatic Cedrela odorata, Priced per Board Foot
Starting at $9.80 per board foot — 4/4 rough sawn Spanish Cedar, priced live as you configure
Buy Spanish Cedar by the board foot — aromatic Cedrela odorata, naturally rot- and insect-resistant. Western Red Cedar also available. Kiln-dried 4/4, 8/4 and 10/4, rough sawn, S2S or S4S. Factory direct.
Random-width, 8 ft rough sawn boards sized to the board feet you enter.
Spanish Cedar is the species Estate Millwork has built exterior shutters from for more than twenty years, and Western Red Cedar is what we reach for when a job wants a lighter, cheaper weather-tolerant board. Buy either by the board foot — pick the species, thickness and milling, enter the quantity you need, and add to cart.
Choose Rough Sawn for shop stock you'll mill yourself. Choose S4S for boards surfaced to 150-grit and ready to use. Choose S2S for face-surfaced material you'll joint yourself.
About Our Cedar
- Spanish Cedar ( Cedrela odorata ) is not a true cedar at all — it is in the mahogany family, and it behaves like it: straight grain, uniform texture, and machining that leaves a clean edge on a shaper
- Janka hardness roughly 600 for Spanish Cedar — light for its stiffness, which is why full-height louvered shutters in it do not sag on their pintles
- Aromatic resin in the heartwood gives natural resistance to rot and to insects; it is the traditional cigar-humidor and boat-trim wood for exactly that reason
- Pinkish to reddish-brown, darkening with age much like mahogany, and it takes both a clear finish and paint
- Western Red Cedar ( Thuja plicata ) is the Pacific Northwest softwood — Janka around 350, very light, very stable, decay-resistant, and the value option for exterior trim and siding-adjacent work
- Both kiln-dried to 6–8% moisture content, Select and better grade
- Available 4/4, 8/4 and 10/4 — call for thicker stock
What We Build With It
Exterior louvered and raised-panel shutters, exterior doors and jambs, screen and storm doors, porch ceilings, closet and humidor linings. Spanish Cedar is our default shutter stock because it holds a paint film, resists decay without treatment, and is light enough that a pair of eight-foot shutters can still be hung on standard hardware.
A note on working it: Spanish Cedar has resin pockets that can gum a sanding belt and bleed through a light-colored finish — seal with a shellac-based primer before topcoating. Western Red Cedar is soft enough to dent under a clamp, so pad your cauls.
What Builders Make from Cedar
- Exterior doors, shutters and siding — Western Red Cedar: light, stable and rot-resistant
- Closets and chests — aromatic cedar repels moths naturally
- Outdoor furniture and decking — weathers gracefully without treatment
- Boatbuilding and canoe strip — high strength-to-weight
- Humidors and cigar boxes — Spanish Cedar, our aromatic tropical species
Grade, Thickness and Board-Foot Pricing
Our Cedar covers Western Red Cedar and aromatic Spanish Cedar, kiln-dried and sold by the board foot — one board foot is 144 cubic inches (a 12×12×1″ board). We stock 4/4 through 8/4; clear vertical-grain stock, wide boards, and truckload quantities are quoted on request through the form below.
Call 412.641.0177 with questions or custom quantity requests.
- Spanish Cedar Shutters — Our standard exterior shutter, made to size
- Spanish Cedar Doors — Exterior doors in the same stock
- Cypress Rough Lumber — Southern Bald Cypress, rot-resistant, per board foot
- Teak Rough Lumber — Plantation Teak, the marine standard
- Sapele Rough Lumber — African ribbon-stripe, Janka 1,410
- All Species Rough Lumber — 16 species available
- Red Oak Lumber — Appalachian, #1 Common and better
- White Oak Lumber — Closed pore, rot-resistant, exterior grade
- Walnut Lumber — American Black Walnut, no stain needed
- Cherry Lumber — Appalachian Black Cherry, patinas with light
- Maple Lumber — Maple, Janka 1,450
- Mahogany Lumber — Genuine mahogany, stable and rot-resistant
- Sapele Lumber — African ribbon-stripe, Janka 1,410
- Teak Lumber — Plantation Teak, the marine standard
- Cypress Lumber — Southern Cypress, naturally rot-resistant
- Douglas Fir Lumber — best strength-to-weight softwood, vertical-grain trim & timber
Spanish Cedar at a Glance
The technical properties builders, woodworkers and specifiers ask about most, for Spanish Cedar (Cedrela odorata) — the aromatic tropical hardwood Estate Millwork has built exterior shutters and doors from for more than twenty years.
| Botanical name | Cedrela odorata — family Meliaceae, the mahogany family (not a true cedar; a genuine tropical hardwood) |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Spanish cedar, cedro, cigar-box cedar, Central American cedar, cedro rojo |
| Where it grows | Central and South America and the Caribbean — from Mexico south through Central America to Argentina; also grown on managed plantations |
| Average dried weight | ~29 lbs/ft³ (470 kg/m³) — light for a hardwood |
| Specific gravity | 0.38 basic / 0.44 at 12% MC |
| Janka hardness | ~600 lbf (2,670 N) — soft-to-moderate; light for its stiffness, so tall louvered shutters don't sag on their pintles |
| Rot & insect resistance | Durable; the aromatic resin in the heartwood naturally resists decay and insects — the traditional humidor, cigar-box and boat-trim wood, and our default untreated exterior-shutter stock |
| Grain & texture | Straight to shallowly interlocked grain with a medium, uniform texture; oily and resinous, with a warm spicy-cedar aroma |
| Color | Pinkish to reddish-brown heartwood that darkens and warms with age much like mahogany, over a narrow paler sapwood |
| Machinability | Machines cleanly and leaves a crisp edge on a shaper, but resin pockets can gum a sanding belt and bleed through a light finish — seal with a shellac-based primer before topcoating |
| Gluing & finishing | Glues well and takes clear finishes, oils and paint; seal the resin first for an even topcoat |
| Paintability | Good — it holds a paint film well, one of the reasons it is a classic painted-shutter and exterior-door wood (prime all faces and back-prime) |
| Stability | Good dimensional stability with low movement in service, so wide shutter stiles and long door parts stay flat once dried |
| Fasteners | Takes ordinary and corrosion-resistant fasteners; for untreated exterior work use stainless or hot-dipped galvanized as a matter of course |
| Sustainability | Listed on CITES Appendix III across parts of its range; our stock is sourced from legal, managed and plantation-grown supply |
The Story of Spanish Cedar
Spanish Cedar is Cedrela odorata, a fast-growing canopy hardwood of the American tropics that reaches from Mexico down through Central America to Argentina and across the Caribbean. Despite the name it is not a true cedar at all — it belongs to the mahogany family, and it behaves like it: straight grain, uniform texture, and a clean edge off a shaper. What sets it apart is the aromatic resin in its heartwood, which resists rot and insects and gives the wood its warm spicy scent.
The cigar-box and shutter wood
For centuries Spanish Cedar has been the wood of choice for cigar boxes and humidors — its aroma and moisture-buffering resin keep tobacco in condition, and its insect resistance protects it in storage. That same resin, light weight and dimensional stability made it a staple of tropical boatbuilding and, for us, the natural stock for exterior shutters and doors: a full pair of eight-foot louvered shutters in Spanish Cedar is light enough to hang on standard hardware without sagging.
What it is made into today
Estate Millwork has built exterior louvered and raised-panel shutters, exterior doors and jambs, screen and storm doors, porch ceilings, and closet and humidor linings from Spanish Cedar for more than twenty years. It is our default shutter stock because it holds a paint film, resists decay without treatment, and stays flat once dried — the combination a weather-facing millwork part needs.
Working with it
Spanish Cedar machines beautifully and takes both clear finish and paint, but its resin is the thing to plan around: resin pockets can gum a sanding belt and bleed through a light-colored topcoat, so seal the wood with a shellac-based primer before finishing. At roughly 600 on the Janka scale it is light for its stiffness — easy to work and easy on your tooling — and for untreated exterior work it takes stainless or hot-dipped galvanized fasteners as a matter of course.
Spanish Cedar — Common Questions
How is Spanish Cedar lumber sold and priced?
What is Spanish Cedar used for?
Is Spanish Cedar good for exterior and outdoor work?
How hard is Spanish Cedar and is it easy to work?
Does Spanish Cedar take paint and finish well?
How stable is Spanish Cedar — will it move or warp?
Why is Spanish Cedar the traditional humidor and cigar-box wood?
Where does Spanish Cedar grow and is it sustainable?
Built to order in Cedar
The same Cedar we sell here go into our custom millwork
Estate Millwork mills this stock into finished, made-to-size doors, shutters, and cabinet doors — priced to your exact dimensions and shipped nationwide. Start with the product you need:
Custom Wood Doors From Our Hardwoods
The same kiln-dried stock on this page is what we mill into custom solid-wood doors — built to your exact opening, in any species. Browse by type:
- Interior Doors — solid-wood passage, closet and panel doors, any species
- Entry Doors — exterior-grade front and entry doors, built to the rough opening
- Louvered Doors — fixed or operable louver doors, cabinet height to full height
- Oak Doors — Red and White Oak, our most-ordered door species
- All Custom Doors — every style, priced live in the door designer
Custom & Bulk Quotes
Get a Custom Cedar Lumber Quote
Truckload bulk, surfaced (S2S / S4S) stock, extra-wide or figured boards, or a species that isn’t on the calculator — tell us what you need and we’ll price it, usually within 1–2 business days.
Prefer to talk it through? Call 412.641.0177.