Weird Crypress tree

[Papa Dave]

I grew up in Florida and lived near the largest cypress mill in the world.  I have been around Cypress all my life. So I have said all that to say this.  I am now living in Tennessee and have had what I thought was a cypress tree in my front yard for 15 years.  I mean it looked exactly like one in every respect.  Recently, I cut it down and Saturday, put a log on  the mill and cut it into boards.  Well, first of all the wood does not look exactly like the cypress from Florida and it has absolutely no smell.  So, what is it?  Perhaps ornamental cypress?

Ok, experts, where are you? :D :D

[Tom]

Got a picture?

Hey DonP this is in your neck of the woods.  What the heck has he got?

'Where is the biggest cypress mill??  

check this out   http://www.cesa10.k12.wi.us/Ecosystems/wetlands/plants/Cypress/  

[Papa Dave]

Well, at the time, it was located in Perry, Florida.  It was first called the Burton and Swartz mill and later called Lee Cypress.  I think it operated in the late 1800's and was torn down around 1966.

My grandfather worked there and I had the opportunity to visit just about anytime I wanted.  It had a bandsaw blade that must have been about thirty feet or so high.  I remember that it was on three different story levels of the mill.  My grandfather said in the early 1900's, they would cut a lot of cypress that was in excess of 10 feet though the butt.

[Don P]

Wow! imagine laying into wood like that. Our biggest tree was a Poplar (tulip or yellow) 6' at the butt. When M finally convinced me it had to come down before we built ,she was right, I stood knee deep in the heartrot.

I can't think of what your tree is Dave. If one of you has a copy of Dirr's at hand maybe look up the ornamentals.
Leyland grows there, a cross of redcedar and cypress but it has a cedar leaf. Spanish and cedar of lebanon but they have different leaves and a smell.Do you know Dawn Redwood? Long winded way to say...beats me  :-/

[swampwhiteoak]

If it looks just like baldcypress, I would suggest dawn redwood.  But I have no idea what the lumber of dawn redwood looks like, so I could very well be wrong.

[Papa Dave]

That is the weid thing about it.  It is the spitting image of a bald cypress tree.   :

[Tom]

I have heard that, If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it must might be a duck. :D

I figure it might be a Baldcypress.  That link shows you have them.

[Papa Dave]

I looked at the link on the cypress and it said there are 130 kinds including those from Asia.  I bet that is where this one came from.  I went out yesterday and looked at the wood again, and noticed the wood has a sorta yellow look to it.

Tom, I think you are the winner.

[Bud Man]

Papa Dave==I'm Memphian Too ==Go by Touliatous Nursery on Brooks Rd. in Mphs. (Forester turned nurseryman) Guy has 15+ kinds of Cypress behind sales yard growing.  Brings seeds home from travels --Keep me guessing for half a day one time at the out of place stuff he's got growing there.

[SwampDonkey]

Just a little tidbit.

Don't forget Chamaecyparis nootkatensis yellow cypress or Alaska cedar. Smells like fresh cut parsnip and almost indestructable except by fire. Its not a real cypress though as indicated by the genus ;) Grows in the pacific northwest in higher elevations above 400m ASL, higher up than red cedar. In BC the wood is almost exclusive to the Asian market. I seen some honkers on the Charlottes, 8 feet across the stump, but mostly around 24 inches.

[crosscut]

did you notice any pinkish colors when first cut unfortunately some of my newbie practice trees setting up my mill were some bald cypress trees so easy to cut and so pretty grain i was hooked extroirdenary colors pinks reds and browns now they are long gone im still a newbie and barely more experianced lol what little i cut was a bit to thin for me to use after they dried i still have them i just dont know what to do with em not enough for me to use for paneling for what i need and not thick enough for tables plus when dry no differant fron any other cypress unless you saw the log opened it is so hard to describe  

[SwampDonkey]

I've seen some cookies cut off of bald cypress and made into clocks. A man made them here locally. But, yellow cypress is just yellow from cambium to pith. I'm not familar with the face grains of either species, only seen end grains. I think that is because they get sold on the Asian market. :-/