# Macrocarpa Outdoor Furniture



## Carlosjackal (Jan 31, 2013)

I have a slab sawmill and last year I slabbed about 27 ton of Mac for future outdoor furniture.

Anyone else here do anything like this?


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

I can honestly say I've never done anything even remotely similar....


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## Roger the Dodger (Oct 5, 2009)

27 tons...put on a bit of weight since you retired, Mach.....? :lol:


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## Mutley (Apr 17, 2007)

I can honestly say I haven't got a clue what the OP is talking about ardon:


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## tall_tim (Jul 29, 2009)

Roger the Dodger said:


> 27 tons...put on a bit of weight since you retired, Mach.....? :lol:


Come on Roger, this is your area of expertise isn't it? Isn't macrocarpa a tree?


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

Isn't Macrocarpa an American Cypress? (Peripheral memory from some agronomic work I did at one time for Golf courses, ISTR they are used on some American courses as green background)

Mind, i'm likely wrong it was along time ago and I'm an ldman:


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## Roger the Dodger (Oct 5, 2009)

tall_tim said:


> Roger the Dodger said:
> 
> 
> > 27 tons...put on a bit of weight since you retired, Mach.....? :lol:
> ...


I'm warning you, this may get a bit boring...... Cupressus macrocarpa (the Monterey Cypress, native to central California) and Chamaecyparis nootkantensis (the Alaskan cypress) normally live around 400 miles apart. But in In 1847, banker Christopher Leyland, gave his estate in Powys, Wales to his son-in-law, who decided to re-develop the estate. He included, and planted in close proximity, the above trees. Normally, these two species would never have met, but they gave rise to that almost unheard of phenomenom in the plant kingdom...and never in the animal kingdom...the inter-generic cross. In the animal world, this would be like a cat and a dog producing a viable offspring...it just doesn't happen. Yes, you get inter-species hybrids, such as the cross between a lion and a tiger to produce a 'liger' or a 'tigon', but you never get inter-generic crosses, where two completely different animal species cross. So these two trees from miles apart, magically produced a viable offspring. These seedlings were the first known examples of what we now call Leylandii (Cupressocyparis leylandii). There have been several variations over the years, the best known being Cupressocyparis leylandii 'Castlewellan Gold', which has a pleasant yellow/gold appearance.. All are sterile, and all plants bought in garden centres, wholesalers etc. are grown from cuttings....in effect they are clones of the original crosses. In my work as a horticulturalist/landscaper, I have only ever come across a few inter-generic hybrids...the best known being the the aforementioned. There is an IGH called Maho-berberis, which is a cross between Mahonia and Berberis.


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

I thought it was a Italian soft cheese..


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

Thank you Rodger, the memory *IS* valid after all, - - well to some extent :lol: I remember it being mentioned as a valid evergreen plant that could withstand touches of both heat and cold, (that would figure from California :yes and US Golf course designers favoured it as it could be clumped or specimen-ed to provide background barrier greenery or a feature as required. Had no idea of the Leyllandii connection.

Another fact for the DUI (Department of Useless Information) :rofl2:


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

Roger the Dodger said:


> 27 tons...put on a bit of weight since you retired, Mach.....? :lol:


A wee bit


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## William_Wilson (May 21, 2007)

I thought "Macrocarpa" was a fad dance a few years ago. 

Later,

William


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## tall_tim (Jul 29, 2009)

Well... I thought David Beckham broke his macrocarpa before the world cup finals.


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## Rotundus (May 7, 2012)

thought it was a large fish at first but then i went on wiki and found it.

so after it is cut it is packed, which would make the mac-cutter into a mac-packer


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## Carlosjackal (Jan 31, 2013)

Very funny..  Yes its an exotic tree found here in NZ but originates from USA/California.

Off topic discussion alright


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

Carlosjackal said:


> Very funny..  Yes its an exotic tree found here in NZ but originates from USA/California.
> 
> Off topic discussion alright


Do you have nettles in Aotearoa?


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## Carlosjackal (Jan 31, 2013)

When I first arrived here and took up hunting, a mate of mine said to watch out for Stingy Nettles.... I thought, 'oh yeah, what nettles aren't stingy'

These nettles make the whole area numb, which I found out when some brushed past my face and I felt like John Merrick for a few days!

Yes, we have nettles


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

Carlosjackal said:


> When I first arrived here and took up hunting, a mate of mine said to watch out for Stingy Nettles.... I thought, 'oh yeah, what nettles aren't stingy'
> 
> These nettles make the whole area numb, which I found out when some brushed past my face and I felt like John Merrick for a few days!
> 
> Yes, we have nettles


I had my first encounter with nettles when I was four, I thought they were just like other plants. I got a shock.  Mum got out the TCP, but it didn't help.

All the same, I was fearless of stray dogs at the same age and didn't get bitten (until I was 28  ). People didn't own dogs as weapons in civvy street then.

After the first nettle encounter, I made sure I had some dock leaves to hand, the old medicine always seems to work.


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## Carlosjackal (Jan 31, 2013)




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## Carlosjackal (Jan 31, 2013)

For those of you who may be vaguely interested.

Here is the portable Saw Mill


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## Carlosjackal (Jan 31, 2013)

And here is an outdoor furniture table top from the same tree


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## tall_tim (Jul 29, 2009)

Thats a nice bit of kit, is it yours? Closest I come is that I regulate two sawmills (or did do, til I got promoted a few weeks back), they are both large scale, one producing rough cut timber (mainly pine and larch) for fencework, the other does better quality stuff for kit houses. It's very interesting watching a tree go through the process from stripping and debarking and then automatically sorted depending on length etc into pallets once cut and planed.

The only two shareable pics I have - the yard and the auto sorter - we're more interested in the big black thing in front of the sorter, this is the dust extraction unit.


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## Carlosjackal (Jan 31, 2013)

wow, pretty commercial.

Yes the Dedicated Wide Slab mill is a Petersons and I bought it off spec hoping to come across some Macrocarpa. Its very hands on, and the timber is heavy (we moved each slab using leverage, brut force and pure ignorance). Some of the 6m x 1.5m x 100mm slabs must have weighed a good 600kg... phew... Bloody nice timber though, and has the natural inhibiter qualities to reduce rot/borer etc...


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

Nice piece of wood, kindq' like Olive Wood to look at in your picture, is it classed as a hardwood or a softwood then?

That table top would look the business in the right setting - - with a bottle of Best Brandy and Steaks all round! :lol:


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## Roger the Dodger (Oct 5, 2009)

mel said:


> Nice piece of wood, kindq' like Olive Wood to look at in your picture, is it classed as a hardwood or a softwood then?
> 
> That table top would look the business in the right setting - - with a bottle of Best Brandy and Steaks all round! :lol:


All conifers are classed as 'softwood' and deciduous trees are 'hardwood', Mel...though these terms don't really apply to the physical density of the wood. Yew, a conifer, is one of the hardest woods around, yet Balsa, a hardwood is one of the softest. BTW, the best known example of Cupressus macrocarpa we have in the UK is the variety known as 'Goldcrest' and are the small, bright lime green trees that can be seen in all garden centres and supermarkets.

http://images.google...mhpgz0E#imgrc=_


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