"Italian" Cypress

[Matt Lentzner]

I have a an "Italian" Cypress (AKA Mediterranean Cypress) tree in my back yard that the LOML wants to get rid of. It's a pretty substantial tree that is 30-40 feet tall and about 12 inches at the base nd the trunk is ramrod straight. Supposedly it a good softwood to make stuff out of. The doors to the Vatican are famously made from this tree (Wikipedia tells me so ;) ). I cut down some smaller siblings of this tree and the wood was soft, but dense and a tight grain - looked promising to my untrained eye.

My questions are:

- Is this big enough to make something worthwhile out of. I was thinking I would make myself a front door. (Delusions of grandeur?)

- Who should I have cut it down? Will a normal tree service do an adequate job or do I need a specialist? What lengths shold they cut?

- How do I dry it. I would guess to stack and sticker for one year indoors, but that's just a SWAG. I live in N. California so the weather is mild but dry.

Any other nuggets of wisdom are greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Matt

[Craig D Peltier]

I think someone will say. "you will have to have good luck to find someone to mill a yard tree"
Yard trees have things in them possible that kill blades. i.e. nails,bullets, clothes lines etc.

[Kurt Forbes]

most yard trees are only messed up in the first 8 feet unless they once held a tree house

[Cody Colston]

I don't think you will have much trouble getting a sawyer to mill it for you but they will charge a set price for damaged blades. Just be aware that they could damage more than one blade, too, depending on what is in the tree.

If it were me, I'd cut it down myself, but you may not want to do that. If not, get a tree service to cut it down, cut off and grind up the limbs and then cut the trunk into the desired lengths. You probably don't need them more than 8 ft. long but the sawyer may want them longer. The local sawmill that I take timber to requires a 12' minimum length.

FWIW, I sawed up a 12" swamp Cypress on my band saw. I cut it in 5' lengths and sawed 5/4 planks out of it. That stuff was super wet and warped like crazy stacked on the wood rack in my shop. I stickered the planks but didn't put any weight on top and they all twisted. I'm hoping I can mill it down straight and still get 3/4" lumber out of it. In hindsight, I probably should have stickered it outside so that it would dry slower.

Good luck.

[Ian Abraham]

I do a lot of work with Monetery cypress which is a closely related tree. The wood is very nice to work, although a bit soft for furniture ( I still use it though).
The problem is that a 12" (big end) log isn't actually that big. You have an area around the pith thats allways unstable and usually splits. The trees I'm sawing are 2-5 ft diameter, and the larger logs generally produce the best timber. Also if the trunk still has branches attached it's going to be knotty.

However.. dont let this stop you :D

You dont mention what means of sawing the logs you have? Workshop bandsaw, chainsaw mill or taking to log to a local sawyer. But either way you want to get it sawn into boards as soon as possible and stack it up
to dry on stickers. Outside is best intially, it dries fairly fast and should be under 15% in 3 months.

The tree service should be able to drop the log on the ground for you and just leave it (less work for them so they will be happy ;) )

Cheers

Ian