: You are paying $5.10 per board foot which is about on par with what I have
: found here. A "board foot" is the equivalent of a nominal

Wah! I get select furniture grade cherry and walnut for that price. Dimensional redwood is actually cheaper than that here (near Chicago). Oak, ash, hickory, maple, are 1/2 to 2/3's that price.

Maybe I'll rethink this cedar stuff. I did some quick estimating at Menard's when I first got the notion to do this, and started with a figure of <$50 for the strips. (It wasn't until later that the other materials edged into my consciousness as more serious concerns... but that's a different story.)

What other woods are suitable? The criteria that come to mind are: straight clear grain, good color, hand workable, light weight, resilient in bending. Douglas fir or southern yellow pine come to mind as usable woods, but are light colored. Will epoxy stick to oiled, dyed, or stained finishes? Walnut is a bit heavy. White oak is a bit hard to work by hand. Bird's-eye maple doesn't plane well.

The $5+ bf is really sticking in my craw right this moment. Might as well cut it from cherry and french polish for that kind of money. The 20 bf that ends up as chips from ripping and beading is starting to hurt now, too. Poplar and paint sounds pretty good right now...

Mike.