The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of heat treatment on properties including oven-dry density, weight loss, surface roughness, shear strength, and hardness of eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana L.). The anatomical structures of samples were also examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Two different heat treatment schedules, with temperatures of 130°C and 160°C and 3 and 7 h exposure times, were considered for the experiment. A stylus method was employed to evaluate the surface properties of heat-treated samples. Three roughness parameters, average roughness (R a ), mean peak-to-valley height (R z ), and maximum roughness (R max ), were determined from the surface of specimens and used to evaluate the effect of heat treatment on the surface properties. The shear strength of samples bonded with polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) adhesive was also measured. All properties of the samples exposed to different heat treatment schedules were significantly different (p = 0.05) from each other. The results of this study demonstrated that the oven-dry density, surface roughness, shear strength, and hardness of the samples decreased, while their weight loss increased slightly, with increasing heat treatment temperature and time.