What’s in a Name?
When it comes to Cedar, a heck of a lot. Most people have strong associations with the word, conjuring up images of roof shingles, house siding, fence posts, and other traditional applications of this naturally rot-resistant species. Or they imagine the wonderful scent from a cedar closet, chest, or sachet. Either way, Cedar is a really good thing.
So, if you were to learn that a swing set was made from 100% Cedar, you’d have a good feeling about it, right? But how would you feel about a swing set made from 100% China Fir? Or 100% Chinese Cedar? Not the same is my guess. And, clearly, that is the assumption made by many swing set marketers these days, because almost every swing set made of “Cedar” sold in big box stores is not actually made of Cedar.
How did this happen? About 7 years ago, as wood products from China started to flood the US market, there were a lot of salesmen peddling something they called “China Fir”. The actual species was Cunninghamia Lanceolata, a fast growing tree in southern China, and a member of the Baldy Cypress family. Within a year or two, it was being called “Chinese Cedar”, and we, like all other swing set manufacturers, received unsolicited samples and price quotes on a regular basis.
Soon, entire swing sets made from this species began to appear. In the early years, the wood was called China Fir or Chinese Cedar. But starting a few years ago, with the backlash against all things made for kids from China, some marketers decided it best to call the wood by its real name, Cunninghamia. This name had no positive associations, but at least didn’t have any negative ones.
The name Cunninghamia prevailed for a few years, but clearly frustrated the marketers. Why use such an ungainly new name for the wood when 50% of the old name was so good? If it used to be called Chinese Cedar, why not just call it “Cedar”?
And that is exactly what has happened. So, like the kids game of telephone, the name has evolved to the point that it bears absolutely no relationship to its original name. And, in this instance, the name also bears no relationship to the actual underlying species.
Of course, we never succumbed to the siren song of low import prices, so we were never tempted to engage in this marketing slight-of-hand. All CedarWorks swing sets are made from 100% real Northern White Cedar. We have looked into lots of other wood species over the years including various Cedars, Redwood, Cypress, and even Teak. So far, none of them has provided the same magical combination of natural rot-resistance along with a naturally splinter-free surface.
We are always looking for ways to improve our products, so we will keep our eyes open for a wood species better suited for outdoor swing sets than Northern White Cedar. And if it’s not Cedar, we won’t call it Cedar. That’s the easy part. Changing our company name might be a bit more difficult.
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July 21st, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Where is your cedar grown and is it sustainably harvested?
July 23rd, 2009 at 10:49 am
CedarWorks sources its Northern White Cedar primarily from Maine and surrounding areas of southern Canada. We had the country’s first FSC certified wooden swing set starting back in mid-1990′s. However, since that time, the only FSC certified Northern White Cedar Mill has ceased operations, and we are simply unable to find a supply of FSC certified Northern White Cedar.
This is in part because Northern White Cedar is produced in much smaller quantities than some of the other naturally rot-resistant woods produced in North America. The most recent production figures from the US Forest Service are 65 million board feet of Northern White Cedar (what we use), 626 million board feet of Western Red Cedar, and 1 billion board feet of Redwood.
The following description from a maine based maker of high quality wooden surfboards (Grain Surfboards – http://www.grainsurfboards.com/) explains the situation better than I ever could:
“Grain Surfboards has undertaken to primarily use sustainably managed northern white cedar in our boards. But investigation with large Maine timber land managers, the Forest Stewardship Council (the FSC certifying authority) and the Maine Forest Service have determined that there are no producers of northern white cedar in Maine that are actually certified for sustainable harvesting of that particular forest product.
While Sustainability Certification would definitely be a guarantee of sustainable practices, the absence of that guarantee doesn’t mean that the forest product isn’t sustainably managed. In fact, Peter Lammert, a leading forester with the Maine Forest Service, has told us that it would be difficult to find a forest management plan anywhere in Maine that targets sustainable harvesting of northern white cedar in Maine simply because it grows so abundantly there. In other words, the resource sustains itself without active management at current harvesting levels.”
I hope that this helps. I truly believe that we have been, and remain, the environmental leader in the swing set industry.