Playing with Florida old growth Cypress

"Hatch-in-e-haw (Wood Everlasting), is what the Seminole Indians called Bald Cypress wood taken from the virgin old growth forests. At one time old growth cypress forests were throughout the southeast, including Florida, and truly magnificent. The trees reached 12 to 14 feet in diameter. There were even stories of trees reaching 25 feet in diameter. Some cypress trees were over 160 feet tall and lived up to 3,000+ years. The closest living relative of Bald Cypress are the Redwoods and the Giant Sequoia in California.

These virgin forests were completely logged out between 1850 and 1930. There are a few trees left here and there, these are protected from logging. For example, “Old Senator” in Longwood, Florida. During this period many logs were left in the swamps or had sunken to the bottom of rivers and lakes, while traveling to the mill in log rafts."

http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr17/shanesby/guitars/cypress/378-1pMJhc_St_138.jpg

i have found two old sawmills that were milling old growth florida cypress 100 years ago (not sawmills anymore) and still have 6 foot wide logs, and meet a deadhead logger that pulls them from the river.

here's a piece pulled from the mud after about a hundred years

http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr17/shanesby/guitars/cypress/DSC05782.jpg

belt sanded

http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr17/shanesby/guitars/cypress/DSC05773.jpg

this board is 1-1/8" thick and straight, not twisted or warped

http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr17/shanesby/guitars/cypress/DSC05774.jpg

rings average about 50 to 60 per inch so i'm guessing these trees are around 2000 to 3000 years old

http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr17/shanesby/guitars/cypress/DSC05780.jpg

http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr17/shanesby/guitars/cypress/DSC05775.jpg

i cut this board up and cleaned it up a little, the battery in my moisture meter is dead so not sure how dry it is

i'll let these sit around for awhile and keep an eye on them

http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr17/shanesby/guitars/cypress/DSC05784.jpg

anyone used this stuff before? if it's good for guitars thats cool, maybe make a nice coffee table if not


:twisted::cool:

I have a guitar that the body is 2800 year old (carbon dated by some University up in Canada) sinker pine. Taken out of lake Ontario. It rings like a bell and is light as a feather. I bet you will make some sweet guitars with this stuff. Great score.

this piece is kinda heavy but when i cut it water about poured out of the middle of it, this piece might be sitting on the shelf for a year or so

What about kiln drying?

Scatter may I suggest you call it the Crackercaster if you make a guitar with it?

What about kiln drying?

i hear they do that over in deland, might check that out

Scatter may I suggest you call it the Crackercaster if you make a guitar with it?

thats a good one, gator skin and bones,cypress, maple, mop, all local stuff



:twisted::cool:

Hi Scatter, I've been wondering about cypress also (I've got a sizable stack in the shed). I know the folks at cardinalinstruments.com in Austin make some guitars out of it. I've spent entirely too much time staring at some of their designs. Probably not to much help but worth checking out.

There are a lot of old cypress Cajun barns and houses that have been dismantled around here. Cypress was the primary building material around here in the 1800's, first, because it was plentiful, and second, because it was supposedly resistant to rot and bugs. I'd like to get ahold of some and build, or have built, a tele body

I've heard of the spreads of Cypress forests that stretched along the shores of the Mississippi River in Arkansas & Tennessee. Most of it was cut down to supply building materials for rebuilding Chicago after their Great Fire. Theres still cypress in the river bottoms, and occasionally someone dredges one up. I doubt they're Bald Cypress though. Great find ScatterLee. Let us know what the moisture content is when you get a reading. Probably don't want to dry it too fast, or it may really go South on you (pun).

Saw your post and thought you would like to see these.

Nothing more deserving of a nekkid lady leather pickguard.

Don't think I've seen one...have a pic?

Don't think I've seen one...have a pic?


That's a reference to some of Scatter Lee's other work:

http://scatterlee.com/index.php?p=1_7_pickguards

That's a beautiful guitar, torodurham, did you build it?

EDIT: Correction, THOSE are beautiful guitarS. The end grain on the one, the perfectly vertical, close grained one, is very striking.

I've heard of the spreads of Cypress forests that stretched along the shores of the Mississippi River in Arkansas & Tennessee. Most of it was cut down to supply building materials for rebuilding Chicago after their Great Fire. Theres still cypress in the river bottoms, and occasionally someone dredges one up. I doubt they're Bald Cypress though.

If they're from those bottomlands, they probably are baldcypress (taxodium disticum).

I've got some real old pieces in furniture. The idea as to why the wood resists deterioration so well, is that it holds the natural oils and moisture. Extracting that moisture might rob the wood of the characteristics that make it beloved. I found, when restoring cypress weatherboards (clapboards) that when one washed them with a mix of linseed oil and turpentine, they came back to life and would accept paint. (the old paint removal process sucked all the moisture out of them).


Postscript: Wanted to mention, not long ago, some idiot woman burned that "Old Senator" tree. Not sure what the outcome was; heavy damage, maybe worse.

That's a great find, Scatter. I've never built with cypress, but we had a dead bald cypress cut down in our yard last year. We'd planted it several years prior, but it didn't survive the drought we had last summer. It wasn't nearly as large as what you're talking about there, but I did set a few logs back in hopes of making a guitar out of it someday.

I have roughed out a tele body made from a cypress door salvaged from an old firestation in New Oreleans. The lumber for the door was cut about 90 to 100 years ago. It is very light and easy to work with. It is still in the early stages but I think it will make a nice guitar when done.

Don't know about a guitar, but I had a house built out of the stuff 40+ years ago and it
was still solid as a rock. I can see why the Natives gave it that name.

Woah, this reminds me of like a wedge but different colors.
Actually it really reminds me of white wedge, or Lati.
http://www.rarewoodsandveneers.com/images/productimages/rarewood/Amphimas%20pterocarpoides,%20Lati-Ivory%20Coast.jpg
But without the darker lines that are in your grain.

Yes. Its my second one. The one you refer to with the vertical end grain is Fir. Counted over 150 growth rings...and it came from a building thats over 100 years old that was torn dorn some ten years ago...it has a new life. Thanks for the kudos!