leland cypress

[dad2nine]

I got a call from a guy, who asked me to come out and look as about 70 ceder trees, that the power company cut down. So I went and looked at em, at first I thought they were white cedar, but as I got to looking, I identified them as leland cypress, about 50 - 60' in length. small end would yeild a 4x4, larger ends would yield 10 x 10 some even upwards to 12 x 12. The man wants to give me the trees, but asked if I would mill out the rough lumber for a 8' x 16' deck with 4x4 posts and 2x6 joists and 5/4x6 deck boards.

I know nothing about leland cypress, could you please tell me what the lumber would be good for? Is it rot/insect resistant, like cedar? Would it be ok to build a deck out of the lumber? I don't want to cut him out  enough for a deck if it's going to rot away in a short amount of time.

I searched the internet and came up pretty empty.

Thanks

[Tom]

Put a "Y" in it and you'll get more hits    Leyland.

I looked a little and found most info on Christmas trees but none on lumber.  Most Leyland cypress I know of around here are ornamentals.

[Ianab]

Dont think much is known about the timber because it's such a new 'species'.

It's a hybrid of Nootka (Alaskan) cypress and Monterey cypress (Macrocarpa)

As both trees it's bred from have reasonably durable timber it's probably going to be OK if it's heartwood. Sapwood may not be so good. I've sawn some and used it for selving and a basic computer desk, (that I'm still sitting at actually) but nothing outside. I dont think I'd use it for the inground posts, but clear of the ground it would probably last pretty well. If you do use it dont cut the posts from the top logs, they will be mostly sapwood and decay fastest. Cutting the posts from the heart of the big logs would be best.
Chances are the wood will be a bit knotty as it's been grown as a hedge but I've seen it used as T@G panneling inside where the knots looked good.

This is a pic of the Leyland cypress desk I posted a while back.



Cheers

Ian

[Phorester]

Since it's a cross between two other cypress, lumber from it will have the characteristics of that species.  Namely, a pretty good wood for lots of uses.  I suspect there would be a smaller percentage of boards from Leyland since its trunk generally has a lot of taper (at least here in VA). 

I would think it would also have a lot of small knots because of all those small limbs from bottom to top, but I suspect these would be tight knots, and may or may not be a defect depending on what the end product is.

But Ian's desk looks pretty darn good.  Amazing how he carved that cypress to look just like a computer and keyboard.   ;D

A word about the deck.  If this is something that would have to be approved buy a building inspector in your locality, check first to see if there are any limitations in the building code on the species of wood that can be used for this purpose.