Cypress stache


Tom King

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Sorry.  I should have done more explaining to start with.

The good stuff is first growth heart out of a swamp.  What you buy in a lumber yard today will probably not last 132 years on a roof like this stuff.  Now, it's protected everywhere I know of where it's growing in wetlands (swamps). If you want to put a road through wetlands, you have to buy wetlands somewhere else where it will have to be left as wetlands forever to "replace" the wetlands you are building a road through.  The timber has to be cut, and disposed of where the road is going.  I tip my hat to someone that saves it rather than burns it. 

There is a Big difference between this stuff, and what you find in a lumber yard sold as Cypress, even if it's the same type of wood. 

Bald Cypress is called a bunch of different names in different places.  Most people, even in the wood business, think that each different name is a different wood.  When I was first looking for a source, more than one place was saying they had the best stuff, and not to buy, as example, that Red Cypress, because theirs was better.  Red Cypress is one of the more than a few common names for Bald Cypress.

This is Bald Cypress out of trees that may be well over a thousand years old-much like the difference between giant Redwood logs still laying on the ground over a hundred years, and what you buy in a lumberyard as Redwood.

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Ok..  I certainly won't claim to be an expert on Cypress and not sure I could tell red from swamp..

Here's the very first project I posted here from my supply of it..  Live edge shelf and matching corbels..

iao.jpg

 

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I don't see very much cypress out west.Ive made a couple things from Leyland Cypress.I air dried the wood myself and was a joy to work.

What we do get Western red cedar ( but we all know it's really not a tru cedar ).Last time I was up in Oregon I saw plenty of trees.I asked wood monger were the Lifts of cedar were going and why it wasn't for sale.

He said the wood was bought for building wine cellars and headed for the mill work shop.

Here a pic of a gate I made from Wrc.

@Tom KingDid the wood you used for renovation have a smell.I do remember you sharing how it resawed easy with Woodmaster Ct.

 

Aj

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

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It doesn't smell, or look, much different than run of the mill Cypress.  If you look at the pictures of the old fanned hip shingles on my "Cypress shingle" web page, you will see the familiar Cypress color on the edges that got rubbed by taking the metal roof off of it.

It is heavier though.  Some feels like it's close to twice as heavy.  The funny thing is, even though it seems denser, it goes through the bandsaw MUCH easier.  I could tell the pieces that had too much sapwood by the way it felt pushing the sled through.  Pushing a piece with too much sapwood might have taken 4 seconds fighting back, where the stuff with so much cypressiene in it went through in less than 3 seconds with little resistance.  It felt like I was cutting wax.

I like that these forums now make it easy to copy photos, and paste here.  You might be able to see the Cypress light color on the upper edges of the hip shingles here:

oldhip2.jpg

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the  closest to Cypress i can get up here is the great white north  is white cedar and i think it is a cypress or closely related.  We  use it but most use western red. the big saws that cut this are something and the trade is call a shingle weaver. the machinery is a very old type 

 

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz_zpsk

 

great blog here on there history

https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.ph...ew/17070/22909

 

the shingle are split from blocks  for quarter cut roofing like you show. Here are a few videos on how there made

 

 

 

 

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@MikeThanks,I had to almost beg for my wood guy to sell me some.I was lucky I was there the day before it went into the mill works.

I made this for a lady who wanted a special wood gate.I was told it was to be left natural.I dove past the house several years after i made it just to see how's it's weathering and they painted it purple.:o.I said a few cuss words to myself and haven't been back.

I paid 7 a bft. I should have kept it for something else.

 

Aj

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20 hours ago, Aj3 said:

@MikeThanks,I had to almost beg for my wood guy to sell me some.I was lucky I was there the day before it went into the mill works.

I made this for a lady who wanted a special wood gate.I was told it was to be left natural.I dove past the house several years after i made it just to see how's it's weathering and they painted it purple.:o.I said a few cuss words to myself and haven't been back.

I paid 7 a bft. I should have kept it for something else.

 

Aj

Ouch that hurts...not much you can do about that though...it was beautiful, maybe they sold the place and the new owner didn't know anything, lol.

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On June 5, 2016 at 8:29 AM, Tom King said:

It doesn't smell, or look, much different than run of the mill Cypress.  If you look at the pictures of the old fanned hip shingles on my "Cypress shingle" web page, you will see the familiar Cypress color on the edges that got rubbed by taking the metal roof off of it.

It is heavier though.  Some feels like it's close to twice as heavy.  The funny thing is, even though it seems denser, it goes through the bandsaw MUCH easier.  I could tell the pieces that had too much sapwood by the way it felt pushing the sled through.  Pushing a piece with too much sapwood might have taken 4 seconds fighting back, where the stuff with so much cypressiene in it went through in less than 3 seconds with little resistance.  It felt like I was cutting wax.

I like that these forums now make it easy to copy photos, and paste here.  You might be able to see the Cypress light color on the upper edges of the hip shingles here:

oldhip2.jpg

 Tom I just wanted to say you really don't see that flared woven hip  detail  very often . That's the way it should be done but often is not

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Here's a link to the Cypress Shingle page for my website that I'm working on.   I still have a lot more to add to it, but it shows some pictures of the replacement roof we put back on that house, and one of the work buildings in the yard.  It's a museum house, so needs to stay as authentic to the original as possible, but it's okay to make slight improvements like no exposed fasteners, proper flashing on the chimneys, etc.

http://historic-house-restoration.com/CypressShingles.html

I bought a little 10" bandsaw for ease of getting it up on the scaffolding to cut the fanned shingles with.  I didn't want my helpers using a little table saw like that.

I was able to save a section of five rows of one of the original fantail hips, and that will be reconstructed in the house for a display that visitors can get close to.  There will also be some of the original shingles, along with some of the new ones, for people to be able to handle.

Google "wooden shingles Poland" and you'll find some really amazing old roofs.

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  • 6 years later...

My partner and I tear down old houses for the lumber as reclaim and most everything is cypress and we just ran across some cypress shingles we took our time to get off from a 240 year old house and have another one next door just the same. If anyone knows how to get in touch with a buyer or if anyone wants to talk more about it we would love to talk.

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 Can you send some pictures of what you have?  The shingles are usually pretty weathered away to the point of being really thin.  I'd be interested to see what heart Cypress wood you have to be able to make shingles from though.

HIstorichousepreservation@gmail.com

If you're in California, the shipping would kill any dealings here though.

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I had some lumber shipped from Tennessee to Houston and was surprised how inexpensive it was. As it was all kiln dried, I had to have it shipped in a covered trailer. To have it shipped on a flat bed would have been a lot less. And if you’re not in a big hurry to receive it, there is a website that truckers view that will help them fill a load, coming or going. 

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It’s been 3-4 years and my search doesn’t turn up a recognizable name but here are two that look to be comparable.

1) Shipley.com

2) freightquote.com

They are sites that mostly independent truckers go to when they have space on their trucks for more freight. 

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