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Cypress for Furniture.

Started by Bill Gaiche, June 23, 2011, 11:07:34 PM

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Bill Gaiche

Does cyprees work ok for furniture say display case with legs and upper case? Is it stronger than loblolly pine? Or should I use a hardwood? Thanks in Advance for your thoughts and experiences. bg

Tom

Cypress is not as strong as Loblolly Pine, but it is strong enough for furniture and has been used for such for years in the South.

It's bragging rights to have a cypress or cedar gun case, rocking chair, table or paneling on the wall.  It makes some of the best small fishing boats ever made from wood. 

It stays relatively flat, machines easily, polishes decently and excepts finishes well.  It can be slow to dry in larger timbers.

WDH

Tom is spot on (as usual)  ;D.
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Ianab

Our local cypress is a slightly different species, Monterey Cypress, but it's not as strong or as hard as stuff like Oak or Eucalyptus.

But it's great woodworking wood, although maybe not in hard wearing use. For stuff like a display case it will work great.

My computer desk that I'm sitting at right now is made from cypress and has held up well to daily use, and a dining room table is on the "too do" list.

Ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Bill Gaiche

Thanks guys for the info. Our Aunt wants a display case made for a Christmas present to display some old woodworking tools of her father in law. She was curious what the cyprees would look like? bg

pineywoods

Bill, just be sure that cypress is dry before building furniture with it. Cypress holds a lot of water and it takes a while to dry, even in a kiln. Dried down to 6% or so, it is very light weight.
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Planman1954

There was a place in Natchitoches, Louisiana that made cypress furniture exclusively. I don't think they are around anymore though. But in the day, their stuff was REALLY nice. I've built many pieces out of cypress, and they are still as sturdy today as when they were made 25 years ago. It's a nice wood to work...a little stringy...so watch for splinters! But it is soft to work with, I guess like pine shelving you buy at Home Depot. Go for it.
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 / Solar Dry Kiln /1943 Ford 9n tractor

WDH

It sure sands nice versus, say, hickory or pecan  :).
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Bill Gaiche

I took the cypress out of the kiln this morning. Your right it sure is light weight.I believe you have talked me into going with the cypress. It will be a new expercience for me. So I will see how it does. Gosh what could go wrong anyway? bg

Woodchuck53

Morning Bill. All of my home and funiture is cypress I cut myself. Try and stack all of your working stock in the same room that the piece will be used. My dad suggested this to me and I have had very little movement after 32 years in the house on my furniture. I have 2 closets full of precut material now for some more stuff the wife wants built. If you have the room and the time it worked well for me. Careful with the glue cleanup from splicing boards. CV
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metalspinner

All this talk of cypress furniture, yet no pics yet???
I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

Bill Gaiche

metalspinner, I have been slow at getting this project going. I do have some parts done though. Its been so hot 104 degree temps keep me out of the shop after about 10am. I will do some photos as soon as I have something put together. bg

WDH

Bill,

I second your statement about woodworking in the heat.  I am working on a whack of walnut furniture for daughter #3's unfurnished college apartment (pics to follow on another post to meet Chris's expectations   ;D), and I have to stop working about noon and take a break from the heat.  Then late afternoon I am back going at it again.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

SwampDonkey

Just open the door......oh wait, that's outside heat not stove heat. :D :D

Be nice to see some of that cypress in a project. MM has a big whack to saw up, his customer is rebuilding his flooded out house.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

WDH

MM has re-defined a "whack of cedar logs"  :D.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Bill Gaiche

Finally finished the old wood working tools display case this morning. Its been to hot to do this stuff but its summer. Have had 17 straight days over a 100. The cypress was nice to work with. Had to be really carefull because its so soft. Mixed some walnut and mahognay minn wax stain and topped off with wipe on minn wax satin poly. bg










Tom

That's downright pretty!

I wonder about stains sometimes.  I know that they even out the colors of different boards, but I can't help but feel a little sad for the covering up of the original color of the choice of wood.   Some folks might not like the color of cypress, but I find it really pretty and needing nothing more that some oil and a good coating of wax.   :)


Bill Gaiche

Thanks Tom. I agree a little clear finish will bring out the great grain and colors of some wood. I had to match an old woodtool tool box the best I could. A photo below of toolbox. bg


Magicman

Bill, it looks like you were busy also.  Very nice indeed.   smiley_thumbsup
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SwampDonkey

Bill, looks like a nice display case you have there. What tools are you placing in it?  ;D Where will you be displaying it? ;)

You guys do well suffering in the heat in the shop. I retire until winter months, but my shop is actually cool in the summer because it's insulated. But, if the door is left open the warm outside air certainly takes over. ;D I do tend to leave the door open because of humidity. It's open to the interior of my barn, not to the outdoors.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

WDH

Bill,

That cypress sure has lots of nice grain! 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Tom

Well, Bill, you did good.  I like that old tool box too.  It shows that it has had some living done around it.

Matching something else is the most difficult thing to do.  I'm not the woodworker that you and some of the other guys are, but I've still had the request to make something that duplicates something else. Coming close is about the best I've ever done.

SwampDonkey

I made a wooden tool box once, just out of old scrap tung and grooved spruce. Hinged it, with latch and handle as well. Had nothing much but a couple fisherman type items in there: a bottle cap scale scraper, a club to kill the fish (salmon) and maybe a few wrenches not worth more than $20 for the lot. Some drunk hoodlums took it off the back of the truck one night. I heard the car go down the road they drove bye in. Sounded like the guys were riding the rims to town. :D :D

The $20 was worth it. :D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

LaneC

   I am having a 2" thick dining table made. The 2 boards for the top are drying in my air conditioned dining room. They have been drying outside for a while, (not absolutely sure how long) and I was wondering about the finish to apply to the table top. I am thinking tongue oil and then a clear coat. Does anyone have any suggestions? I would like to see it pretty close to the natural look. I don't want it stained, unless that is better for the wood. Any suggestions are appreciated
Man makes plans and God smiles

low_48

Not sure what "tongue" oil you plan to use. Pure tung oil takes forever to dry. Modified tung oil dries faster, but many tung oil finishes aren't really tung oil, but instead more like varnish. Personally, I don't like mixing different finishes. There can always be adhesion issues if you don't let it dry long enough or just plain incompatibility. For a brush finish, I like fast dry Minwax polyurethane. If you are spraying, I prefer the professional finish called conversion varnish. An air conditioned dining room is not much of a kiln. Buy a moisture meter.

WDH

If you do use pure tung oil, after applying the tung oil in the #of coats to your satisfaction, be sure and let it cure for about 30 days before topcoating it with varnish. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Larry

All oil finishes impart some amount of yellow to the wood ranging from a little to a lot.  To my eye its great on walnut, oak, and other darker woods.  Not so good on maple if your trying to keep it white.

My standard finish for table tops that are actually used has been Waterlox Gloss for years.  Its tough and easy to re-finish if that time ever comes.  The downside is its expensive and unused finish likes to jell in the can.  Takes a few hours to cure enough to not pick up dust particles.

I've been finishing a few pieces with Minwax fast dry poly and it shows great promise.  I've been using it as a wipe on.  Jury is still out on how tough it is, but I like the fact that its cheap and readily available.

Whatever you decide on, try it on a test piece first.

Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

LaneC

   Thanks Gents. I may try a little of that finish you were talking about and the tongue oil. Yep, I may try a little of that tongue oil on one of the ends. the good thing about it, I will have quite a few feet to try different ones on, because I am going to have to cut 2 ends off of each board, so that will give me a total of 8 sides to experiment with :). I will definitely try the waterlox, and the tongue oil (pure). Thanks a bunch for the advice.
Man makes plans and God smiles

WDH

I use the fast drying Minwax Satin Poly and really like it.  I have use it on most of my furniture projects.  For benches, I use 100% pure tung oil. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

LaneC

  I will try that one too on another side. Thanks. I hope I can get samples :D. Only a few sides left :)
Man makes plans and God smiles

ljmathias

Good cypress is fascinating to work with. Managed to scrounge some 12X12 and 15X15 post cut-offs ranging from 4-5' in length. Cut them into 1 1/2 or 2" slabs on the saw mill, some cut into 3-4" wide for legs and support pieces. Planed, sanded, assembled with really long screws (found some 4" at Lowes and have some 6" Timberloc I think they are). Screwed together but no glue they are staying pretty solid as tables and benches.

Lot of this furniture is for use in a pub so I finished with three coats of polyurethane spar varnish- tough and water resistant. Some of the benches sit outside and get wet often but seem to be holding up real well. Table and benches inside look great.

Only problem I've noticed with the spar varnish is a little bit of yellowing of the almost pure white parts of the cypress- small price to pay for the ease of application and durability.

One interesting thing I've been doing is gluing up table tops using a combination of cypress with darker or stained wood. Had a 2" slab of Spanish cedar that was uniform in color and beautiful fine grained. Put that in the middle between two 15" wide slabs of cypress and the contrast is fantastic. Also did this with some red oak I'd had laying around (air drying if you ask). Stained it dark walnut and that looked even prettier. PITA to sand after assembly as that took off some of the stained part and I had to re-apply with a tiny brush. Oh, well, live and learn.

LJ
LT40, Long tractor with FEL and backhoe, lots of TF tools, beautiful wife of 50 years plus 4 kids, 5 grandsons AND TWO GRANDDAUGHTERS all healthy plus too many ideas and plans and not enough time and energy

caveman

A friend of ours who owns a tree service has given John and me quite a few nice logs over the years.  To let him and his wife know that we appreciate his generosity, we offered to make them a table.  They wanted a picnic table.  This is what we came up with.  It is a little over 10' long and about 43" wide so we decided not to add integral benches.
Most recently, he gave us some really nice cedar but he was cool with us building the table out of cypress.


 

We used my old radial arm saw with a wobbly dado blade to cut the lap joints on the legs.  It did a good job on that task.  I think I'll continue to leave a dado blade on that machine until I need it for another purpose.
Caveman

SwampDonkey

Awesome looking picnic table. Looks nice and solid for the sway factor. ;D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

WDH

Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

firefighter ontheside

Very nice table.  I love cypress.  My whole first floor of my house is cypress flooring.  I wouldn't do it again.  It's too soft for high traffic areas, but I didn't know that 20 years ago.  I have built my platform bed with large drawers out of cypress.  My headboard is made from cypress.  Much of the trim in my house is made from the left over cypress flooring.  
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caveman

This was a fun little project.  It did not take a lot of time build, which is a good thing as we don't have a lot to spare right now.  We have another tree guy we feel pretty indebted to so we may be doing something for him in the not so distant future.

Cypress is a beautiful wood.  A former student and his dad just bought a bandsaw sawmill that will cut 8' between the guides and they have gotten their permits and barge for pulling sinker logs.  They should be sawing soon.  The family sold their very successful strawberry, squash and fruit tree farm a few years ago (Kathleen, Fl) and most of their clan moved up to the Perry, Fl. area.  I expect to see some incredible cypress from them pretty soon.
Caveman

WDH

There used to be a big cypress mill in Perry, FL way back in the day.  I bet there are some nice sinkers around that area. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

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