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Unfinished wood weatherability
On 02 Mar 2004 17:44:32 GMT, (Gould 0738) wrote:
Here's some information on cypress. Not a common choice, but one you might want
to consider.
Cypress has a natural preservative, cyprysene, impregnated throughout the wood.
How does it weather? Some historical preservationists were working on a 300
year old building back along the E Coast recently. Some of the original
exterior millwork was cypress. They cleaned up the cypress pieces and reused
them.
We should use more N American woods and less teak. There are a lot of political
and environmental costs associated with teak these days.
From a website:
Taxodium distichum
Other Names: Bald cypress, Red cypress, Yellow cypress, Southern cypress
These species are called baldcypress (one word) to distinguish them
from cypress (cupressus spp) in the USDA Wood Handbook. It is a good
practice to avoid confusion, because they are quite different and
unrelated.
Strength and mechanical properties
[snipping lots of good info about baldcypress]
Did You Know?
During the Middle Ages, European craftsmen carved massive cathedral doors from
cypress.
This was true cypress (cupressus sempervirens) that grew all around
the Mediterranean a long time ago. Baldcypress is unknown in Europe.
I have used true cypress for harpsichord making, which baldcypress
would not do at all for.
It was used by the ancient Greeks to make the galleys used in the
Pelleponesian War. Excellent for canoes if it were readilly available.
The most similar North American woods are Port Orford cedar and Alaska
Yellow cedar (Chamaecyparis spp), and Eastern Redcedar (juniperus
virginiana). I have not seen wood from a Monterey cypress but that is
not a source of commercial lumber AFIK.
Rodney Myrvaagnes NYC J36 Gjo/a
"Happy is he that taketh thy little ones and dasheth them upon the stones." __Psalm 137
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