Is cupressus worth milling?

[alex_w]

Hi,

 

We have a cupressus macrocarpa in the garden which is nearly dead. Is the timber any good? I assume it is slow growing enough to have a tight ish grain?

 

It is about 2ft DBH

 

Alex

[slack ma girdle]

The wood is good for draw liners as it smell nice. If you have the ability and the time, it will probably be worth the effort. I have turned some nice platters from it, the grain always looks good.

[tommer9]

It is a fantastictimber for milling, well worth it. It has a very fine grain, which polishes to a high degree and takes oil etc very well. It is very vey stable, and can be used for many applications, both iside or out, as it is very rot resistant indeed. It doesnt have enough structural integrity for structural work in alot of cases though, as it is a 'short' grained timber- i.e. in small sections it can break diagonally across the grain. It makes fantastic furniture or decorative pieces such as window boards or sideboards etc, and often displays beautiful flame like figuring which can give a 3D ripple effect, somewhat like 'fiddleback' sycamore.

Makes good cladding for exterior uses too, and due to its stability can be cut into thin wide waney edged boards for this use.

Go for it!

It is, however, very poisonous, so wear masks when working it, esp when dry and you are sanding.

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

It is, however, very poisonous, so wear masks when working it, esp when dry and you are sanding.

 

Me and reub have been logging that stuff since that yelvy job mate - are we at risk? Certainly smelt enough of it!

[tommer9]

Not really. Its worst when you are milling orfinishing as the dust is so much finer.

[ScottF]

Have made some superb, and apparently pretty durable 8"x8" bollards out Macrocarpa and they look fantastic. Beautiful grain and takes oil well. There's some pictures at Flickr: green concepts' Photostream somewhere in the "design and build" set.

[Mark Gibbens]

Everything said above is totally correct. We always have problems finding straight fairly knot free wood. Macrocarpa very often has included bark and big knots

which doesn't help the final product.

Macrocarpa timber is very naturally durable (far more durable than most softwood treated with modern preservatives. The shape of some of the uncut timber lengths sometimes make for great semi rustic tables,chairs etc.

Don't log it if it is any good!

[alex_w]

Wow,

 

Thank you for all the advice, Sounds well worth planking up. I will post some pics when we get it done

[alex_w]

Had another look today, actually about 3ft DBH, but the chatacteristic included bark is obvious, but will give it a go in the autumn