Canadian-Grown Western Red Cedar

A towering, conical conifer with dense, sweet-smelling foliage and a broad trunk, Western red cedar is native to the Pacific coast of North America and Canada where it can reach up to 65m tall, and live to be over a thousand years old.

The Canadian western red cedar we use is especially slow-grown, which means that the tree’s growth rings are closer together, producing an exceptionally strong timber that doesn’t bow, buckle or shrink in the heat of a sauna. The wood is also very resistant to moisture, making it ideal for an environment where steam is produced.

For these reasons, we use slow-grown, Canadian Western red cedar for the internal cladding of our saunas. We also exclusively use knot-free Canadian Western red cedar so that it won’t bleed or shrink around knots. In addition to its exceptional heat-resistant properties, the colour variation seen in slow-grown Western red cedar creates attractive contrasting wood tones, and its warm, spicy aroma is amplified by the heat of the sauna.