Red Cedar Shakes - 30" Tapersplits

Watch Lloyd Clefstad, the "woodroofguy" from www.woodroof.com produce hand split tapered shakes, or tapersplit shakes. These Western Red Cedar shakes are a special custom order - 30" long. They are being used on a historic restoration roof.

[@G.A.gigger]

hi there ... i have been in the business for many years and i am situated in B.C. I have done many flyouts of blocks and i now make fence rails and do 18" handsplits .i remember getting some of the old cutout sheets from the mills and we used to get well over 11 square per cord on 24" blocks ... it was nice wood ... i love working with it .... treat it like an artist and get the best utilization ...

[@BO_Riddle]

Watching him split the wood was very satisfying.

[@JasonMichaelKotarski]

well done. Thank you for showing. That will be a beautiful architectural detail.

[@hansnelsen3960]

Love what you are doing and love the shakes! I gotta tell you, I've owned a froe since 1969 and I make splits from very much less than perfect wood. I create some very interesting cedar sidewall coverings. The good ones I can save for a roof, but they can be a bit less than perfect, too. Keep it up, man!!

[@backyardbirbsma2981]

those are some clean splits, well done!

[@jayfromtexas6718]

Beautiful work! A worthy endeavor.

[@djbradles]

Awesome work 👏🏼

[@sweepeasu]

woodroofguy is a wood artist. Fantastic

[@condor5635]

All I can say is simply amazing. Great job. Kind of sad thinking 600 years of growth comes to this but what an amazing skill and set of tools you have

[@raygon8]

What lives forever !

[@Slangevar333]

Thanks Lloyd- I wish I had seen your demonstration before I put asphalt shingle on my English style cottage.

[@armandoavila9978]

Randy Crawford endonde es ese travajo

[@woodroofguy]

Howdy - when we flip the block, the wood naturally tapers from a thick butt end to a thinner tip. If we don't flip the block, the shake will split with the same thickness for the whole length. This is the case no matter how long the shake - but the amount of taper remains the same - relatively speaking. In 25 years, I don't think I have ever heard a good explanation why the wood naturally tapers when the block is flipped... I hope that helps! Many thanks for saying hello!

[@woodroofguy]

@@AlaaShaheenarts [e-mail]

[@maezzee]

Wow 30 inch heavy hand split.shakes.....I’m impressed......

[@banq0o]

thanks for sharing, respect! 8-)

[@Blimkat]

Wow I would have not expected it to split that easily, very cool. I have been thinking about trying this for small sheds however I am in the east so I will never find eastern cedar that size haha. I figure I can still make some cedar shakes but much smaller. Do you have a video applying and installing the finished product?

[@discountbrains]

That's very nice and esthetic, but like u said, there are very few pieces of wood available to do this and this is really hard to do without Western Red Cedar which also has a limited habitat. This is why I made my machine which can be seen at "Homemade shingle/veneer making machine". Clearly, its not as esthetic as this, but I can use logs with small knots and imperfect grain. I can overlap my shingles and try to use the minimum amount of staples and glue. With enough glue panels can be made much like solid wood.

[@aeward2000]

Great video. Can you make shakes using teak or other type of durable wood available in the tropics? Thank you.

[@bloodysandlover]

this is a pretty satisfying video to watch

[@woodroofguy]

Thank you!

[@AlAnderson-zl6lw]

I used to do that+shake sawyer

[@henryzimmer]

Thanks! =D

[@woodroofguy]

@henryzimmer - Thanks Henry! Working 8 hours with good wood, I could produce about 20 bundles. This is equal to approx 900 shakes = approx 160 lineal meters = approx 37 m2 based on an 23cm exposure (3 layers of wood). It is pretty slow work with this long length.

[@raljame]

I have watched this factual video.

[@nellieappleby]

so cool! is anybody doing it with Eastern Cedar? thx!

[@henryzimmer]

Great work! How many square meters can you do on a day?

[@whilomforge3402]

Does the wood naturally split at a with that taper?

[@Gains_Monsoon]

Can you use fresh cut wood? If not how long should the cedar dry for?

[@AlAnderson-zl6lw]

Did that for yrs,many moons ago

[@woodroofguy]

Hi Wayne - yes, when you flip the block end over end and split, the wood tapers naturally. If you don't flip the block, it will split straight, giving a uniform thickness. This is the case on the edge grain face. I forget if that is the case on the flat grain face. Note - i have never been given a good explanation why the wood tapers as it does... Anyone out there know why?

[@woodroofguy]

+David Hedrick Thanks David! That's a good explanation. Makes sense to me!

[@scottmenard8618]

Hi Lloyd, can you lead me to where I can purchase cedar such as this for my own hand splits? I'm in northern New Hampshire

[@markbennett8927]

Can we ever plant in 600 year cycles to preserve this and other respectful crafts that rely on the understanding and balance of ancient woodland?

[@hunterwebber6025]

Nah, humans breed like rats and infest even worse.

[@rodney73991]

do have let dry before put up or can put up with no worries. do put clear finish on right way or leave time for air dry?

[@DepthWave]

rodney adams might be too late, but usually you want to let it season a bit and only finish one side so that the inside facing side can "breathe". It's supposed to help keep them from shifting and cracking... I don't know if it really makes a difference, but that's what I was taught. Only finish the side that faces the weather.

[@ExploringCabinsandMines]

should the wood be wet or cured ?

[@phtoun]

why constantly rotate deck?

[@arcare001]

600 years old?! I hope you re-planted so there'll be a new crop for the next time!

[@dart70ca]

What is your mallet made of? My wooden one gets beat up pretty quick...

[@craigslitzer4857]

looks like a poly mallet. i'm sure there's something hard to pronounce after that "poly", like "poly vinyl chloride", but i don't know what it stands for

[@valentinocarvajal]

¡¡Teacher!!

[@armandoavila9978]

valentino carvajal endonde es ese travajo

[@edgarbaring414]

Do you run those at ten inch exposure with 18" 30# felt paper?

[@martenhodges3272]

In regard to The 30" shakes, here in the west that's called a "barn" shake" and layed in two layers with a 4" lap no felt. All the cedar I saw used For shakes, grape stakes, and bean poles were from old downed trees, fresh-cut cedar would go for fence posts.

[@yusukeyusuke1999]

What's the tool called to split the wood ?

[@woodroofguy]

+yusuke yamamoto - Hello there! Thank you for your question! The tool is called a "froe" - we call the combination of tools a mallet and froe. They are available for sale on Lee Valley Tools - www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?p=67231&cat=2,44728,45794,67231 However, we can supply a nice quality froe from local vendors in shake country.

[@wulfdont7011]

That is called a FROE

[@aztiff]

These must be the really expensive ones

[@riosmoodie5763]

I made it myself thanks to WoodPrix website.

[@martinschla]

If tables are longer than procedure is done

[@bignut-eg8vx]

600 year old tree cut down to cover a roof where it will last maybe 20 years before it rots to nothing. I would say that tree was better off being left as a tree.

[@woodroofguy]

I agree with you, but that can be said about every old growth tree cut down anywhere. Forestry has always built communities from the economies that come with the cash flow. And now, after logging most of the coastal forests, there is limited old growth available. The second growth becomes the mainstay of what the mills cut for commodity products. And not that it makes much of a difference, these shakes, applied like they were to be applied, on a historical building in NY, will last 60 plus years. I have seen beautiful red cedar trees butchered into low quality, low priced commodity crap for over 30 years - and installed the cheap and easy way - all to make a dollar. For these reasons, I don’t enjoy the industry. It’s a huge subject... I intend to start making new videos that discuss these subjects and more in the near. Happy to discuss further with you anytime. Thanks for your comment!