# cypress



## panhandler (Apr 28, 2011)

Has anyone worked with cypress? What has your experience been with the wood and what are some good projects to do with this wood? What is a reasonable price for this wood? 

I live in fl and there is a cypress mill about 20 minutes from my house. I'm thinking about stopping by on Thursday.


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## bigcouger (Jan 4, 2012)

panhandler said:


> Has anyone worked with cypress? What has your experience been with the wood and what are some good projects to do with this wood? What is a reasonable price for this wood?
> 
> I live in fl and there is a cypress mill about 20 minutes from my house. I'm thinking about stopping by on Thursday.


 
Where in Flordia are you, Cypress is nice to use outside and i seen it use for funiture for a house good thing is make sure it kilm dry it better for you than one cut during the winter


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## panhandler (Apr 28, 2011)

I live just north of Gainesville Fl and the mill sells kiln dried wood. The prices from their website seem really good.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

I have used cypress for all of the wood when I built on my screened in porch some 30 odd years ago. In those days $150 bought all of the wood I needed and that my 3/4 ton Suburban could carry. It was sticking 6' out the back. I used 4x4, 2x12, 2x6, 1x4 and 1x10. All rough cut. Left it rough cut.

With age it turns a nice sliver/grey.

I have never tried to make any furniture out of it. From what I can see of its characteristics it probably would be good for a project to fit a rustic motif.

George


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## dat (Nov 11, 2010)

I've seen a lot of porch swings, chairs and benches made with it, it will hold up to the weather well without rotting.


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## mn pete (Dec 10, 2010)

It's a very good outdoor wood and I think it's pretty bug resistant too, if I remember correctly.


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

About %75 of the furniture I build is cypress. Click on my Facebook paged linked below to see some of it.

Price varies with region. I buy cypress for $0.75 off the mill or $1.00 air dried. Thats mixed grade. There are a lot of furniture snobs who don't see cypress as a fine furniture lumber but I beg to differ. 

The new growth yellow cypress is pretty soft and light weight. The grain is almost like a bunch of pool noodles bundled together. That's an exaggeration of course but nothing like old growth red or sinker cypress which is more like a hard heart pine. 

That airy grain can make it very difficult to profile end grain, hand cut M&T's, plane or really any hand profiling at all. It cuts easily but not cleanly.

While the old cypress is FAR superior either way it can be used for all sorts of applications. People often think cypress is rot resistant similar to redwood, while that's partially true it's as much wrong. Old cypress was extremely weather tolerant but new cypress lacks the resins the old did. If used outside do not rely on the wood alone to be durable without a weather proof finish.

When it comes to finishing the the alternating grain density leaves ridges which often can not be sanded but pretty easily handled with a smoothing plane or scraper.

It's a difficult wood to work with but it's worth the learning curve and patience to see the absolute beauty of the lumber. 

If you have any particular questions let me know.

A few chunks of sinker, old and new cypress:

--------------------------------------------- one day I'll be so good that I won't need this forum any longer... then I'll know I have full onset Dementia! ~tom


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## panhandler (Apr 28, 2011)

Wow Firemedic! Those are some beautiful pieces! I am going to pick up some cypress tomorrow and work with it! The prices here is less than $1/foot for 1x4 s4s kiln dried! Seems reasonable to begin messing around with! I have a few outdoor plans in place so maybe I'll start there!

Thanks for sharing!!!


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

Well? Any development here? Did you get any cypress and build anything?

...build n burn - live n learn...


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## ToddN84 (Aug 1, 2011)

firemedic. what type of finish did you use for that dresser?


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

It's a trade secret : laughing:

It's a latex based stain with dry colors added. Topped with lacquer. That is new cypress made to look kinda like sinker.


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## DPJeansonne (Feb 4, 2009)

*working with cypress*

I agree with firemedic. Cypress is a beautiful wood with a lot of grain patterns. It is usually used to outdoors projects but you can make great furniture for indoors. Be sure you get kiln dried.You have to be aware that it moves with changes in humidity in the house.

Around here select grade cypress new growth runs about $1.50/BF unplaned. A #2 grade will be about $1.00/BF.


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