Boat Building Forum

Find advice on all aspects of building your own kayak, canoe or any lightweight boats

Strip: Eastern Red Cedar
By:Brian Steffke
Date: 8/23/2003, 4:22 pm

I just purchased my western red cedar and thought that there may be some folks on the east coast looking for a closer source. Middletown Lumber is in Middletown (duh!)just outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I found their stock to be excellent and they had quite a variety of widths(1X4, 1X6, 1X8, etc) and lengths of 6,8,9,10,11,12,14 16,18 feet and maybe others. The stock is A-1 or better and is beautiful. The sales people are very patient (although I pushed this to the limit after 45 minutes of picking out my 10 boards) and helpful. The cost of the wrc is $1.30 a lineal foot for 1X4 and $2.48 a lineal foot for 1X6. They also have a good selection of bubinga, wenge, purple heart, yellow heart, sitka spruce, ebony, maple, cherry, fir, walnut, and on and on. I did not even get into the rough cut stock but know that they have a big barn full for those with a jointer and planer. Although they are 5 hours from my home I will definately plan another trip when in need of more stock. The phone number there is 1-800-828-4005. Hope this helps. Brian