White cypress

• White cypress grows to 25m high, typically conical.
• Stem is 0.3 to 0.6m diameter.
• Bark is dark grey, hard and deeply furrowed.
• Foliage is grey-green.

• Widespread natural distribution from central western Queensland to Victoria throughout most of the western New South Wales.
• Occurs in major commercial forest  in the Tambo–Dalby–Inglewood region of southern Queensland
• Occurs in the Baradine–Narrabri and Cobar districts of northern New South Wales.
• Sawn timber is readily available.

Colour

• Heartwood varies from light to dark yellow-brown.
• Sapwood is creamy white.

Grain

• Very fine with an even texture and generally straight.
• Knots are common.

• Construction: sawn timber (usually unseasoned) in general house framing, fascias, barge boards and fencing; also cladding, flooring, linings and joinery.
• Decorative: internal quality furniture, outdoor furniture, turnery, joinery, carving, parquetry flooring.
• Others: beehives, oyster stakes, jetty piles (low salinity river or canal situations).

• Density: 675kgm³ at 12% moisture content; about 1.5m³ of seasoned sawn timber per tonne.
• Strength groups: S5 unseasoned, SD6 seasoned.
• Stress grades: F4, F5, F7 (unseasoned); F4, F5, F7 (seasoned) when visually stress-graded according to AS 2858-2008 : Timber—Softwood—Visually graded for structural purposes.
• Joint groups: J3 unseasoned, JD3 seasoned.
• Shrinkage to 12% MC: 2.6% (tangential), 2.4% (radial).
• Unit shrinkage: 0.26% (tangential), 0.22% (radial).
• Durability above-ground: Class 1 (life expectancy more than 40 years); heartwood is highly resists decay when fully exposed to the weather.
• Durability in-ground: Class 2 (life expectancy 15–25 years); heartwood moderately resists decay when used in the ground.
• Lyctine susceptibility: not susceptible.
• Termite resistance: resistant.
• Preservation: sapwood and heartwood are both very resistant to impregnating with commercial preservative.
• Seasoning: dries quickly, but restrict the drying rate during the early stages to avoid fine surface checking; rarely distorts during drying.
• Hardness: firm (rated 4 on a 6-class scale) to indent and working with hand tools.
• Machining: satisfactorily machines and turns to a smooth surface.
• Fixing: pre-drill seasoned timber when hand nailing, but if machine nailing, using shear point nails will be satisfactory; unseasoned timber generally nails well using either method but pre-drill when hand nailing close to board ends.
• Gluing: satisfactorily bonds using special techniques, e.g. slightly roughening surfaces and increasing open assemble times.
• Finishing: readily accepts paint, stain and polish.

General characteristics

• Sapwood: creamy white, distinct from heartwood.
• Heartwood: light to dark yellow-brown.
• Texture: very uniform with some figure (pattern) and numerous knots.

Wood structure

• Growth rings: indistinct.
• Vessels: absent.
• Rays: indistinct.

Other features

• Burning splinter test: burns well leaving a white ash.
• Odour: distinctive and characteristic.

• Boland, DJ, Brooker, MIH, Chippendale, GM, Hall, N, Hyland, BPM, Johnston, RD, Kleinig, DA and Turner, JD 2006, Forest trees of Australia, 5th ed., CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
• Bootle, K 2005, Wood in Australia: Types, properties and uses, 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, Sydney.
• Ilic, J 1991, CSIRO atlas of hardwoods, Crawford House Press, Bathurst, Australia.
• Queensland Government, DAF 2018, Construction timbers in Queensland: Properties and specifications for satisfactory performance of construction timbers in Queensland. Class 1 and Class 10 buildings, Books 1 & 2, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Brisbane.
• Standards Australia, 2008, AS 2858—2008: Timber—Soft wood—Visually stress-graded for structural purposes, Standards Australia International, Strathfield, NSW.