ID this tree

sensabmc · Jan 31, 2015

I think it's a cypress. I live in the gulf coast region of Mississippi.

The logs weigh a ton. I can pick up the 4 and 5 foot long sections with my loader but the 10 foot section won't even move.

20-24" in diameter.

Here are the pics. I cut a sample block so you can see the inside. The inside is what has me stumped.

HarryN · Feb 1, 2015

Looks like cypress. Was it under water?
If it's cypress it will smell great.

sensabmc · Feb 1, 2015

Came from about 30 feet where it lays so no water. It smells like gasoline to me.

rwork · Feb 1, 2015

Hard to tell. Not much bark left on the trunk. Is the wood spongy? If the tree has been dead for a long time, it could be a fungus inside the wood.

s219 · Feb 1, 2015

Looks like the wood is either spalted, or has begun to decompose. Spalting is the early stage of decomposition that gives the wood interesting patterns, but the wood is still usable. Once it gets past that point, it's not much good.

When dried and cured, Cypress looks very much like other white softwoods. When fresh cut, it will have a slightly darker appearance.

Here's a milled cypress beam, but this was standing dead wood so it was basically dried/cured in place:

Here's a piece of spalted beech for conversational purposes:

2LaneCruzer · Feb 1, 2015

HarryN said:
Looks like cypress. Was it under water?
If it's cypress it will smell great.

I have seen at least one upscale home in this area trimmed on the outside with something he called "Pecky Cypress". It had a lot of holes and grooves, supposedly caused by fungus. Could this be what we have here? Cypress is not common around here.