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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    The Shire
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    325

    Default cypress posts for a bench top?

    Hello folks.

    Was in The Big Green Shed this arvo and saw 100x100x2400 cypress posts for IIRC $26 each. I have been planning to build a Schwarzbo style bench for some time and have been pondering materials for the surface.

    I'm wondering if fellow forumites know how this timber works. I've got it at home as floor boards but am unsure as to how it reacts in big square forms. Is it twisty? Liable to split? Any good as a working surface? Any opinions on these posts as a bench top?

    Cheerio,
    Virg.

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Melbourne
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    79
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    601

    Default nrb

    I made some benches and seats from that stufftwisted and split,ok for outdoor furniture but inside?

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Melbourne
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    47
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    978

    Default

    Likely anything that comes from The Big Green Shed will be unseasoned specifically for outdoor applications. My experience with the plantation stuff is that it's far too knotty, usually includes the tree core and not really suited to cabinet making.

    On the other hand you could have enough material for a whole bench for ~$200 which is pretty good value. Still, I wouldn't rush such a bench, and wait for either some luck like I did, or some cash to purchase decent hardwood.
    "Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."
    - Douglas Adams

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    The Shire
    Posts
    325

    Default

    Yes, has the core of the tree.

    I might keep hunting recycled hardwood.

    Cheers,
    Virg.

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    3,096

    Default

    I did a test and surfaced green native cypress 100x100mm posts, then stood the ends in a linseed oilsoak for a few days and wiped down on the fresh planed surfaces till the oil beaded rather then soaking in. At the end of that I painted the ends with Penetrol to seal the end grain.
    Let them dry for a little over a year, including 2 summers, with periodic wipe downs with linseed oil again.
    Dried stable and straight... the trick seemed to hit them with oil if I saw a crack appear and to start with green timber that hasn't been 'dried' by putting it into a pack and loading it onto a truck as demand appears.
    After the year of drying I surfaced them again by a few mm, reveling the un-oiled faces and painted the end grain again.
    Left them sitting for another 2 years (in the shed). They were still flat and straight after that.
    A long time to wait to get them stable, but worth it as cypress gets you big pieces for a cheap price... and they should stand up to outdoor use with a uv stabilised polyu finish repeated as per the directions.
    Cheers,
    Clinton

    "Use your third eye" - Watson

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/clinton_findlay/

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