Cyprus

[Pagie]

Not sure how to spell it but what is Cyprus good for?

Peter

[highfieldtonewerks]

Hi there - Some of the common uses for Cypress include:

Craftsman Furniture & Fixed-install Cabinetry
Shingles
Fence Palings
Posts
Beams
Flamenco Guitars
Other Acoustic Instruments
Windbreaks (In tree form, of course)

The timber was readily available in California in the early 1900s and was used extensively in the Bungalow movement. If you would like to have a squiz at a stunning use of Cypress, Cedar, and White Oak in an architectural setting go to: <a href="http://www.gamblehouse.org/">Gamble House</a>. It is one of the finest examples of what the Craftsman Bungalow architects and builders did with these woods.

Hope that helps some. :U

[Ashore]

It has a great resistance to white ants , but is brittle and splits easily , take it from there :2tsup:

[weisyboy]

makes good wheatherboards.

and looks good for furniture

[Barry_White]

Also makes good floorboards. The Piliga State Forest near Narrabri/Coonabarabran is full of it.

[texx]

internal flooring , parquetry , house framing.

[glenn k]

I used the macrocarpa type for weather boards, table, stairs, beds, four panel doors and other things. It is very strong, soft and splits easily and is not very heavy. It would be the best stuff for lintals except you have to grade it below pine that is max F11 where it should be more like F17.
It also has about 1% shrinkage from wet to dry.

[Pagie]

Thanks guys, I was given a trailer load for use in some of my boats. It looks like it may be good for planking and oars, maybe.
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[texx]

dont think i would use it in boats ,gets to brittle

[Pagie]

I guess I can build all that furniture that is on the to do list. Thanks for the replies. :doh:
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[glenn k]

dont think i would use it in boats ,gets to brittle

What do you mean by gets to brittle? Do you believe it changes over time? I know fellas that used Cupressus macrocarpa for spring boards while competing in axe events. I have used it for ramps for heavy machinery. You wouldn't want to hit it with a hammer and may have to drill before nailing but besides that it is a superwood. It also takes huge forces to push spring out of boards and it can bend nails to go back to its prefered shape, so cut curved boards straight.
I was told they subsitute a bit in karri boats in new zealand as it can look the same, maybe in less important places.

[texx]

What do you mean by gets to brittle? Do you believe it changes over time? I know fellas that used Cupressus macrocarpa for spring boards while competing in axe events. I have used it for ramps for heavy machinery. You wouldn't want to hit it with a hammer and may have to drill before nailing but besides that it is a superwood. It also takes huge forces to push spring out of boards and it can bend nails to go back to its prefered shape, so cut curved boards straight.
I was told they subsitute a bit in karri boats in new zealand as it can look the same, maybe in less important places.


yes it gets brittle with age .

[Pagie]

ok now I;m more confused.
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[glenn k]

A lot of the cypress I use I milled in the 80's it doesn't appear to be any more brittle than stuff I milled last year. Old cypress trees tend to break up a lot more than young ones but this is usual for most trees softwoods more so. You may be correct as I haven't done any tests; do you know of any tests that have been done? Also why would wood age differently once it is milled? Except for the cracking that will happen over time.

[Pagie]

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qnsIuZwileY/SjyK0ZAyYVI/AAAAAAAAShs/gGcf0vk-B94/s640/IMG_2595.JPG<style id="jajah">span.jajahWrapper { font-size:1em; color:#B11196; text-decoration:underline; } a.jajahLink { color:#000000; text-decoration:none; } span.jajahInLink:hover { background-color:#B11196; }</style>

[Jarrahrules]

Not sure how to spell it but what is Cyprus good for?

Peter


HI peter

The local cypress that you are talking about still rots and isn't white ant resistant. The good stuff is from Queensland not Vic.

Regards
Jamie

[Pagie]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3334/3642713593_bb2a226a0e.jpg
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[Pagie]

Bugger
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[glenn k]

Looks like real cypress Cupressus macrocarpa rather than the native stuff calitrus sp.

[Pagie]

Is that good or bad? The trees were a farm boundary planting.
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[glenn k]

good not so knotty more stable

[Pagie]

Thanks a lot. It looks like nice wood. And smells great. I will try it for gunwales and oars first. I will get another load.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3539/3642717487_e38b4b6c01_b.jpg
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[glenn k]

I have been thinking of milling some seeing my brother is cutting down a kilometer of old cypress but carting 300km is just too much trouble, and its much easier for him to chip and leave.

[Pagie]

This stuff looks like much too good to chip

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[Jarrahrules]

This is our local cypress and it rots and isn't termite safe.
If any one would like to corect me please do so as i can get heaps of this stuff. 4 ft Diameter.
Regards
Jamie

[texx]

This is our local cypress and it rots and isn't termite safe.
If any one would like to corect me please do so as i can get heaps of this stuff. 4 ft Diameter.
Regards
Jamie
got to be a different pine to the one we have up here .
i worked in a cypress pine saw mill for almost 2 years here in texas as the docker we would have 3 or 4 jinker loads of logs a day come in and i never seen a log of our cypress pine come in anywhere near that size.
and on the brittle thing if i get a chance i could take some pics ( if i can remember to take my camera to work ) of several hay sheds and one car shed where the round timber in the roof has cracked and snapped .
this is timber that is 7 and 8 inch diameter .
why this happens i don't know but to me it get's brittle . i would love to be wrong because my house is all cypress , even the bed i made that we sleep on is cypress but chunky timber for a bed as in 2 people can't lift it.
the reason i said i would not use it in a boat is because boats need to be able to twist and flex and i don't think cypress would be a good choice for that application .
as a docker i had to grade the stuff and would very often have trouble getting F8 or better for an order if specified by the customer ,
dont get me wrong i love the timber has some great feature and grain in it, makes great polished floors .
anyway thats all my opinion .
i will continue to use pine in building at home cos the ants here don't like it ( they have forced mum out of her house cos they ate the lining dad did it with masonite they love that stuff) but i would never use it in a boat to dam heavy for that anyway.

[glenn k]

This is our local cypress and it rots and isn't termite safe.
If any one would like to corect me please do so as i can get heaps of this stuff. 4 ft Diameter.
Regards
Jamie

It might grow where you come from but it is Cupressus macrocarpa (Monterey Cypress) they are endemic to the central coast of California as in North America.
We had an exchange with them during the gold rush they gave us Pinus radiata and these and we gave them Tasmanian Blue gums in revenge.
Don't feel to bad a lot of Califorians think Blue Gums are native as well.
But it is great wood I would love some if it is not too far away.
It is a different Genus to what you are talking about Texx.

[Pagie]

Glen K what sizes are you after? I may get down there next week again.
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[IanW]

This is a classic case of people talking at cross purposes because of mixing up common names!

Whatever the stuff on your trailer is, Pagie, it isn't Callitris spp., which is what many people think of when you say 'cyrpess'. I think that Texx is talking about Callitris, & you probably have the introduced Cupressus macrocarpa - a native of California - as GlenK suggested.

Cheers,

[cytan]

Hi as a building contractor, two uses spring to mind. a polished floor and lighting fires. lol:U

[glenn k]

Glen K what sizes are you after? I may get down there next week again.
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Thanks for the offer but I have a mill and a few cypress logs in storage, and if I want to travel my brother is removing a 1km row of them now but 300km is too far to go.

[seanz]

Is that good or bad? The trees were a farm boundary planting.


The thing ( so I hear ) with shelterbelt or hedge or boundary planting macrocarpa is that the timber is more likely to get shakes......large horizontal imperfections. This might not be such a problem in Oz timber as it is with Sth Island of NZ timber, it's a bit windy here you know.
In the Nth Island there are plantations of macrocarpa (Monterey cypress) so some people that know a lot more about trees than I do thought it was worth planting commercially. Plantation timber doesn't suffer from stress from wind as shelterbelt timber.
I've heard mixed reports as far as furniture making....some people like it, others say it marks to easily.
As far as boat building goes........a book on NZ timbers (timber available in NZ) said that it can't be steam bent.

I've got some pieces seasoning in the garage at the moment and they seem to be going quite well. Interesting to hear what the shrinkage rate is, I learn a lot from this forum. :)
The bits I've got were supposed to be landscaping sleepers but they looked nice....so I rescued them :D they'll become a bench eventually. It's local and cheap so I'll end up using quite a bit of it, I hope.
Pagie, yours looks nicer than mine...could you float some over?
:wink:

[Pagie]

Yes I could float some over, it should be down wind all the way.

[Jarrahrules]

The good stuff from north Australia is oily and yellow to brown with streaks. Our poxy tree is like oregeon pail and boring.

Regards
jamie

[glenn k]

The good stuff from north Australia is oily and yellow to brown with streaks. Our poxy tree is like oregeon pail and boring.

Regards
jamie
I just turned around and looked at my door and thought "It looks terrific to me"

[tlbsg]

i mill plenty of macrocarpa with good results stands up well as post and rail fencing i have some at home been in the ground around ten years still good but steer clear of sapwood

[glenn k]

I bloke in a saw mill told me he cut 2 x 2" hardwood stakes for the council every year then he cut them from cypress and they didn't buy any the next year because they didn't rot off.

[echnidna]

That's interesting, I laid a macrocrpra sleeper on a concrete floor inside and enclosed verandah with a roof leak, The sleeper started to rot within a year, but looking at it it might be sapwood in that section.