Macrocarpa cheese board. twisting and cupping questions.

[Kiwi75]

Hi. A work mate of my wife's has commissioned a Macrocarpa cheese board for her daughter. She supplied the wood from a dairy farm they once owned so it kinda holds special meaning to the family and she wants me to leave it pretty much natural apart from sanding it all smooth. It's a two inch slab with two live edges, unfortunately she doesn't want me to cap the ends to prevent cupping and I'm a little unsure of myself, should I just oil it? or do I need to seal it? is it inevitable that it will cup and twist? I don't have a moisture meter but it has been well seasoned and seems very dry. I can be a bit of a rough bugger if I don't check myself and I really don't want to put my name to it if it's all gonna turn to custard. Cheers

[justonething]

We don't have macrocarpa here but I am assuming that its very similar to cypress pine that we have, which is very prone to splitting. I'd suggest you oil it with mineral oil or technical grade paraffin (you can get it from a pharmacy). Place the board in a fan forced oven and heat it to 50 ~ 70 deg for an hour. The idea is to heat up the board slowly and evenly. Once the board is nice and warm, liberally rub in the paraffin so the board is saturated and let the board cool in the oven. Put in more paraffin as the board absorbs it.

[Glider]

A couple of years ago I milled a piece of macrocarpa (Golden Cypress) off a fallen tree on my farm in the NSW central tablelands. It's about 300x40x20 thick. No signs of splitting or cupping at all and we have some pretty cold winters. The wood is pretty oily and a beautiful honey colour. I'm hoping to mill the whole tree in a couple of years.

I would use Light Mineral Oil USP or its equivalent Light Liquid Paraffin BP. The thicker mineral oil might prove too oily. A compounding pharmacy should have some.

mick

[Xanthorrhoeas]

Macrocarpa was widely grown as a windbreak tree and a decorative tree in Tasmania. When I was at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens we had a big inquiry bench made using a whole slab from a tree that fell in a storm. It was very stable and nothing like Australian Cypress.

[DaveVman]

I would be interested to learn more about this. I became confused about NZ Macrocarpa because although it is a softwood the macrocarpa I experienced in NZ was quite durable in outdoor above ground uses.
I am beginning to think there might be several reasons. One is that macrocarpa is resistant to borer. Also the heartwood is quite durable and it is common to find old rough sawn heartwood in NZ. Which seems to be different to the sap wood. The other reason is the dearth of available hardwood in NZ vs Australia makes for different perceptions or expectations of durability. However this is all my supposition so I'm interested what the more knowledgeable have to teach us.

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[quercus]

Cupressus macrocarpa (Monterey cypress) is very stable. It is originally from the eastern coast of the USA. Nothing like native Australian cypress (Callitris) . Very stable and although big sections often have cracks if the tree was dropped harshly, it isn't prone to movement . Under rated timber
Monterey


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[Kiwi75]

Thanks guys, I did some research and discovered that it was highly stable, so it's reassuring to hear you guys agree. I was very happy with the result, though I used linseed oil rather than a mineral oil but I shall keep that in mind thank you Gilder.
The customer was very happy so that's another success. Will post a pic later when the wife gets home as she took a pic with her phone.