I use allot of cypress for building out door furniture and other stuff. The sap wood is pretty light has good strength and is easy to work with. It's firmer than balsa but softer than other sticks available. It's also rot resistant which *may* make it more tloerable to glow fuels.

Has anyone tried building with it. I did a search of the forums and came up empty handed. I don't see why it wouldn't work as long as CA will adhere to it well. I use one part pulyurethane with it as well as epoxy for my furniture and it holds fine.

The Cypress I use is kiln dried. I could make sticks up to 15' long if I wanted that are really pretty straight over that length. (Most boards I get are 12-15' long with nothing under 10')

Any thoughts or experiences.

It probably would fall somewhere between spruce and basswood as a building material as far as strength versus weight. If the sizes were kept reasonable it should work as a stringer and spar centersection material especially in larger aircraft.

I have never heard of anyone using cypress. If it was light and had good straight grain I don't see why one couldn't use it. I have used good straight grained white pine and redwood in addition to spruce so there are several woods that can be used.

Maybe an A&P will know a little more about using it. I will be watching, it will be interesting.

Cliff

Check out Paulowinia wood as well. Said to be the highest strength to weight ratio of any known wood. Pretty flowers too. Remember the paulowinia wood props for rubber-powered airplanes? http://www.paulowniatrees.org/

I remember seeing a chart on the strength to weight ratio of woods but haven't looked for it again.

I can make any sizes I need and any goofy profile. I have made some pretty small sticks on the table saw without trying. Just scrap from cutting. I can easily make 1/8 X 1/4 sticks.

Next time I get a chance I'll have to make up a few sticks and do some comparison testing. Some of it has very good flexibility before breaking. It varies allot depending if it's cut from sap wood or heart wood. It's pretty straight grained.

Also the cypress I use is from Florida and LA. Actual swamp grown type. There are other types sometimes called cedar. Technically most north american cedar is not in the cedar family but more a type of cypress. It's allot lighter than basswood or spruce.


The reason I was asking is because I have plans for a Ziroli Zero and Corsair and the thought of using the cypress in some applications would save allot of $ on balsa since the sticks would practically be free. when I get a chance I'll set up and cut a bunch of sticks. If anyone would like to test with it just let me know and I'll give you some.
Might turn out to be a usable wood then again might be totally useless in RC.


That Paulownia looks interesting. I'll have to ask my lumber suppliers if it's available or if they have heard of it.

like your idea of ueing Cypress, vs Balsa. however there is a large difference in weight. any idea of the difference in thickness's vs weight of of a 1/4 x 3/8 wing spar, etc. have plenty of the Cypress available here in Louisianna. mills around the area. dick

I cut up a batch of 1/8X1/8 sticks. Hard to compare the weight on those. I don't have a scale that will weigh that little. I'll have to see if I have a larger balsa stick and cut a cypress one and compare weight.

My thought is not so much to use it in place of balsa. I'm thinking it could be used in place of balsa where you need a little more strength but don't want the weight of Basswood and where basswood is overkill. Kind of use it as a midrange between the two.

It's just a thought. May not pan out at all.



Did some looking into the Paulowinia trees. I'm thinking of planting one in the back yard. It'd make a good shade tree and it can be cut down and harvested for lumber over and over again without replanting. It grows like a weed except that they don't spread.

The best price I found on the lumber is ~$5bf plus shipping. No one locally carries it. That's not cheap wood. I can buy Mahogony for just a little more. Cypress is from 1.20-2.00 depending on grade.

I've used lots of cypress in various kinds of woodworking. When I was a kid I even made a C/L rat racer from solid cypress. It was quite a lead sled. But the wood was free.

According to the wood density database at http://www.worldagroforestry.org/sea...s/AFDbases/WD/ bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) has a medium density of about 500 Kg/m3. Basswood runs from 365 - 460 and spruce is 440. So it actually looks a little heavier than either spruce or bass.

For mechanical properties look at http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fp...tr113/ch04.pdf. I'm no structural engineer but I was surprised that the compression, shear and tension of cypress compare favorably with basswood and spruce. However in static bending work to maximum load it falls between the two.

So it looks like the strength is there but it's heavier than either basswood or spruce.

Dave

I cut a piece of cypress the same size as a chunk of basswood I had and the cypress was lighter. that was in that case. I have found that Cypress varies a whole lot more in weight than other woods. I'll order 400bf and some boards are light and some are pretty heavy.

I think the main prob that would come up when using cypress would be that it may be too flexible. I can bend it allot more than balsa before it breaks. Going to do some testing and see what happens.

Gotta come up with a materials list for the two planes as well. I wish Ziroli would include a materials list.

elcam84. Sometime when you are out driving around you might take some of your light cypress sticks by Lone Star Balsa in Lancaster and see what they think about them. I'm all for taking a look at various woods for use in particular model building applications.

I'm planning on heading over there one day. It's a pretty long drive though and he is in a bad area. It's over an hour from here with good traffic. I'll take some with me.

Might as well see what they think. It may or may not pan out.

When cutting small sticks you turn more wood into saw dust then you do into lumber.

The saw dust comment reminds me of Ed Seay's balsa cutting operation over at MAL hobbies in irving He sends stuff all over the world for the indor builders.
I have seen the saw dust in his cutting room piled up three ft deep in the corner along with the reject material that did not meet his specs.