Choosing Your Wood Type

One of the most common question we get here at Backcountry Recreation is related to cedar vs thermowood vs. hemlock vs white pine and which type of wood is best for your sauna. Each species has its own unique properties and consequently varies in price points. This page is will help you navigate which building material is best for your specific needs.

Clear Wester Red Cedar Saunas

  

Clear Wester Red Cedar - Excellent Quality / Highest Price

Wester red cedar is one of the most commercially valuable species. Its exceptional working properties like natural resistance to termite, rot and decay make it an ideal choice for outdoor applications. The appealing dark color, light weight and soft texture makes it suitable for various applications . Its flexibility and versatility enables its usage in roof shingles, exterior siding, exterior cladding, decking, greenhouses, and saunas. Although there are many grades of red cedar saunas on the market Backcountry Recreation only uses the highest clear grade cedar available making out saunas one of the highest quality red cedar saunas on the market.

• Lightweight
• Excellent working properties
• Can be sanded to a smooth satin finish
• Planes and shapes well
• Glues easily
• Has moderate screw and nail holding properties
• Appropriate for outdoor usage
• Beautiful aroma

 Thermowood Saunas

  

Thermowood -  Very Good Quality / Moderate Price

Thermowood’s Characteristics & Qualities

This process causes chemical and structural changes to occur within the timber, which therefore alters some of its characteristics and qualities. Some of the characteristics and qualities that make Thermowood such a popular specie includes:

Dimensionally Stable – The intensive heat the wood is exposed to during its production dries out deep into the core, causing all moisture and resin to be removed from the timber. Thermowood therefore doesn’t react to changes in humidity as drastically as untreated wood (the risk of swelling, cracking and shrinkage is decreased), allowing it to retain its shape far better. The wood also doesn’t secrete sap or resin even in high temperatures.

Environemntally Friendly – The softwood used to produce Thermowood originates from well-managed, PEFC-certified forests, and as no chemicals or foreign substances are involved during its production, Thermowood is an environmentally friendly material produced by using only natural methods.

Resistance to Rot and Fungi – Due to the heating process breaking down hemicellulose, the wood doesn’t contain the appropriate nutrients to allow rot and fungi to grow and develop.

Increased Longevity – When wood is treated with heat, its average life span is prolonged meaning your sauna will last a lifetime!

Improved Insulation – Wood that has been heat treated is much more porous than untreated wood, vastly improving its insulating properties.

Its attractive appearance and removal of resin means that the timber is also ideal for interior projects, such as saunas , furniture & flooring.

• Dimensionally Stable 
• Environmentally Friendly
• Resistance to Rot and Fungi
• Increased Longevity
• Improved Insulation

• Non Toxic 

 Wester Hemlock

 

Wester Hemlock- Good Quality / Moderate/ Low Price

Western hemlock features a fine texture and a straight, uniform grain. This species is seasoned uniformly in dry kilns to improve its strength and stiffness, and to enhance its resistance to decay and insect attack. It offers a wide array of applications. This wood species is primarily known for its even grain, which offers excellent machining properties. It offers a wide array of applications, ranging from moldings, interior woodworking, general construction and traditional saunas.

• Good strength-to-weight ratio
• Excellent machining properties
• Good sanding, staining and painting properties
• Glues satisfactorily
• Turns, planes and shapes well
• Moderate nail- and screw-holding ability
• Polishes beautifully

Pine (SPF) Saunas

 

Pine (SPF) - Ok Quality / Lowest Price

The spruce-pine-fir (SPF) group is a mix of Engelmann Spruce, Lodgepole Pine and Subalpine Fir. SPF has a high strength-to-weight ratio and is primarily used for framing in North American housing. Due to its dimensional stability and superior gluing properties, SPF is used extensively in the flat-packed furniture industry. It is also a great choice for modular houses, interior finishing, boxes, pallets, packaging cases and concrete formwork but not the best choice for outdoor application when left untreated. 

 Knotty Cedar Saunas

Knotty Cedar - Low Quality / Low Cost 

Sometimes referred to as "Rustic" or "Heritage" cedar. Knotty or select tight knot cedar cedar should not be used to build saunas. This is because of two main reasons, the sauna will expand and contract over time and the knots can come loose and fall out leaving your sauna with unplanned ventilation holes. The knots are also very dense and dense  means heat retention, these dense knots can burn skin and make the sauna seating almost unusable. At the very least a knotty sauna should have a alternative grade of cedar or a different species of wood altogether used for the seating.

Knotty cedar cost around 60%-70% than a clear cedar sauna and  any finished product should be 60-70% less than a Backcountry clear cedar sauna, an important point while doing your research.