Timber DNA Database (I guess?)

[Walter Mooney]

Hello All,

I didn’t really know how to title this one. Does anyone have a website address and/or physical address for the government agency (USDA or Forest Service or wherever) where you can sent a wood sample and they will return info on what is is and possibly where it comes from, or similar info? Reason is, I have some cypress that came from the lid of a cistern that was constructed sometime around 1905 -1910 behind the house my FIL was born and reared in. The house is in Comfort, TX (it’s no longer in ‘the family’). I thought maybe the cypress may have come from the nearby Guadalupe River, or maybe even Cypress Creek. But someone much more knowledgeable than me about all things Texas Hill Country told me it quite possibly came from Louisianna, as apparently back then there were traveling ‘constructors’ who, with horse-drawn wagons, brought and built cisterns with lumber from LA. I’d like to know where it came from, if that’s one of the things they can tell me.

The wood is incredible! I have four boards comprising what amounts to one half of what was an 8’ diameter cistern. The ends of each are curved on the circumference of the cistern. The longest board is ~ 8’-2” long, long point to long point, and almost 18” wide, and about 1-3/4” thick! The next board is almost 6’ long at the long points. The growth rings are so close together in places that you can’t count them!

Thanks in advance for your help with this. When the info comes back, I will be sure post the findings!

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[Richard Coers]

They can only give you a growth range, not an exact location. Wood does not store location data in the cells, only climate conditions. https://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/research/c...dfactsheet.php

[Walter Mooney]

Thanks for the link Richard!