Sawing Leland Cypress

[warren46]

Does anyone have any experience sawing what is known around these parts as Leland Cypress.  I have a customer that brought over about a dozen logs and wants 3/4 X 6 to use as a tongue and groove ceiling on a porch. He intends to plane and T&G the boards. Should this be an OK application?  How well will this dry?

Thanks for the input.

Warren

[Kbeitz]

??? I thought they was hedges ?

[fishfighter]

Never sawed them, but I planted a few and that is some fast growing bushes/trees. In 10 years, from 3' to about 25'. Still growing. :D

Oh, I think they are more of a pine tree, then cypress.

For sure they are a ever green tree.

[Ocklawahaboy]

I got to cut down about 50 of those one day as part of a charity work day.  Biggest was about 8" at the stump and narrowed to 4" by 3' high, even though they were 30'+.  Hedge was a good description.  Looked like decent wood but not enough to mill.  If you've found some big enough to get 6" boards, I'd at least experiment a little.

[WDH]

Should work fine and dry real fast.

[Ianab]

I've sawn a few. No problems with sawing and drying. Wood is light coloured and fairly soft, but perfectly useable. I'd say you could use it in place of pine for most applications. I dont think it's as durable as the cypress species it hybridized from. I've built desks and shelves from it.

[taylorsmissbeehaven]

I cut a half dozen large ones about two years ago. Cuts easy and was easy on the blade. The customer decked the roof of a gazebo with it before covering with tin. I was there over the holidays and still looked good. The scrap left over rotted pretty quick in the weather. Brian

[warren46]

Thanks for the replies.  Sounds like it should work for my customer.

[outpost22]

Oh, I think they are more of a pine tree, then cypress.

They are actually a cypress hybrid. Cupressus x Leylandii or Cupressocyparis leylandii, depending on which horticultural source you trust.

Fast growing evergreen tree to about 30'. I've had them grow 6' per year.  Like most fast growing trees, they look worse with age.  After 25 years they look haggard.  I've used them to fill in landscape screens in foregrounds, while other worthwhile slower growing trees grow in the background that later become the foreground when the Leylands are removed.

No experience at all milling them.  Since I don't like them much, I consider them chainsaw fodder

[warren46]

I sawed about 20 small logs and got a nice little stack of 1X6.  It sawed easily for such small logs.  The lumber was almost white with subtle grain.  The white turned to a nice honey color when exposed to the sun.  It smelled like cypress while I was sawing.  The customer is happy.


 

[Ianab]

Looks like the stuff I've sawn. It dries and machines up fine, and should be ideal for T&G panelling that's out of the weather.

Because it's usually planted as a hedge the trees are usually pretty straight, and there might be dozens of usable logs when someone removes the hedge. While I wouldn't call it "highly valuable"  ;) if they are free for the sawing you can certainly get useful boards out of them.

[scmilling]

Hi
Over here on this side of the Atlantic leyland cypress (leylandii) is a real common hedge and boundary tree. It will grow up to about 70' with girth at base of about 3' . A fast grower hence its widespread use on housing developments in the past, now controlled by planning offices. Anyway it mills real good , quite stable and a superb wood outdoors either for weatherboard or in ground contact as it has a natural resistance to rot . Simmilar in use and character to WRC. It's a truly underrated wood where you can get it in big enough sizes.