Thread: Cypress pine

Hi,

I reckon platters of cypress would be ok, but definitely seal them as quick as you can. Cypress will split - in time . I've a couple of little turned cypress pots from Reeves and after two years, they have hairline cracks in them.


Totally agree the Cypress will look fantastic!

Cheers
Wendy

Thanks for the info Wendy.
BTW, congrats on the sale of your boxes.(I checked out box making last night) and I concur with others, your selling too cheap. Good luck in the future.

Cheers
Shorty

I turned a 300mm x 100mm bowl from cypress about 4 years ago and to this day you can hear the cracks creaking when you pick it up or put something in it - never seemed to stop! I've still got some big chunks out there that cracked badly but I reckon it ought to be OK for lidded boxes to about 100mm diameter. All the boards I cut from the same tree have been really stable.
I reckon you're goblets will be alright if the timber came from large enough stock but keep your bowls shallow Shorty.

If you're really, really lucky and your blanks are from the outside of a very large tree, so the rings in the end-grain seem almost flat then you shouldn't have a problem.

However, it's far more likely that it's from near the heart and there's significant difference in the arcs of the rings from one side of the blank to t'other, in which case... well... that's the "maybe" zone.

If your blank includes the heart, my advice is to forget about it; as far as turnings are concerned it probably won't see a year out.

I still turn the stuff anyway, 'cos it does look nice when finished and is good practice in getting a clean finish off the tools...

Cypress can be very tricky. Here is one of the very first pieces I turned when taking up the sport this summer. It is 7" x 2!/4" with 1\4" walls. I kept it in my basement workshop (ambient temp about 65F) for several weeks. Within 24 hours of bringing it into the living room (ambient temp 78F, air conditioned.) it split!

[Sorry about the measurements - I live in a small, backward nation that has not yet adopted the metric system]

Thanks Shorty

It's a real shame that cypress just wants to crack away so much, the grain in it is so beautiful.

MartinL - That bowl shape is a winner, I hope you make some more like like in similiar light-coloured timber.

cheers
Wendy

The favourites with the women at my work are the little perfume sprayers. See here for a few examples. I get my kits from GPW.

The sides, or actual timber part, are very thin and hence you could stabilize the timber with thin CA.

Good luck.

Are we talking about native Australian Cypress?
If its well seasoned it turns like cheese and yet is quite brittle so - no catches or dig ins!! Smells beautiful too!!

I have sucessfully made several pens and knife handles from it when it is well seasoned takes a beautiful finish of Shellawax or CA.
Use for perfume thingies as mentioned above may be fine depending on finish.

Australian so called Cypress turns like cheese & you could work it with an axe but it splits notoriously. What I don't know is whether that's because of the lack of respect that it is shown by the fellers? If you could be in place in the Pillega Forest or wherever when it's cut and seal it when it's cut it might be much more predictable.

Hint when you buy it avoid the boxed hearts which get sneaked into the pile for market because most of it seems to from trees under about 300mm DBH (Diameter at Breast Height). Get sticks deep in the sling if you can and also watch the dust - it gets a listing in the toxic timbers listings. Think about it, anything termites won't touch until last resort isn't likely to be nice stuff.

Yes, I turned a cypress platter along while ago 300mm dia 20mm thick and it was joined in the middle with apiece of enamelled copper in the centre and not a movement all to this day
Regards D M

Cypress pine, Callitris spp (there are as many as 9 variants but the common white cypress is Callitris glauca). Widely distributed across Eastern inland, air dry about 800kg/m cube, shrinkage 2.5% radial which means it's very stable. Heartwood has good resistance to termites, hardness 6.5 Janka (Radiata, a true pine, is 2.2) The bark can be the source of sandarac, a valuable resin which, BTW, I'm told is used by witches to this day in whatever ceremony they get up to!
Listed in "Australian Trees and Shrubs [URL="http://www.thewoodworks.com.au/product/products/BOOKS/1001304/B1456.html"[/URL] as maybe causing asthma and nasal cancer

Originally Posted by MartinL

Cypress can be very tricky. Here is one of the very first pieces I turned when taking up the sport this summer. It is 7" x 2!/4" with 14" walls. I kept it in my basement workshop (ambient temp about 65F) for several weeks. Within 24 hours of bringing it into the living room (ambient temp 78F, air conditioned.) it split!

[Sorry about the measurements - I live in a small, backward nation that has not yet adopted the metric system]

Martin ,
your cypress bowl looks like what we , here in NZ , call macrocarpra (monterey cypress) .
Turned from a full branch , it will split , but if the log is split first , for wet turning , it may stay stable . If allowed to crack as it seasons , or if turned from milled timber , it is reasonably stable.
A good saturation with oil, (I use olive), helps too.

Over here , the name macrocarpa puts folk in mind of firewood , so I use the term Golden Cypress .

Jock

Originally Posted by Manuka Jock

Martin ,
your cypress bowl looks like what we , here in NZ , call macrocarpra (monterey cypress) .
Turned from a full branch , it will split , but if the log is split first , for wet turning , it may stay stable . If allowed to crack as it seasons , or if turned from milled timber , it is reasonably stable.
A good saturation with oil, (I use olive), helps too.

Over here , the name macrocarpa puts folk in mind of firewood , so I use the term Golden Cypress .

Jock:

Thanks for the information, Jock. Mine was finished with Danish oil, but not very much. I have now taken to rough turning bowls, soaking them in de-natured alcohol (methylated spirits, as we called it in the UK) for 24 hours, then paper wrapping and allowing to dry for 2 weeks. This has reduced cracking in all kinds of wood to near zero.

Martin

Martin might look about for a less dangerous and probably cheaper method and ask for End Grain Sealer at his turning supplies place. It's a petrochemical industry by product a wax in emulsion which is non toxic and washup-able in hot water. BP call it Logshield, Mobil used to call it Mobilcer. Slop it over freshly cut green wood and it will usually (not always) do the job of regulating the seasoning process