Australian Cypress - The Wood

The wood of native cypress pines is distinctive in colour and grain and is generally easily distinguished from the softer plantation pines and oregon pine, and the native and imported hardwoods.

In colour cypress ranges from the light cream of the sap wood up to a very dark brown (dark chocolate) of some of the interior hardwood of some mature trees. The occurance of large and small knots is a characteristic of the material but this characteristic also provides remarkably decorative figure on the planed surfaces. Typically the knots are tight knots which do not readily fall out of the sawn wood.

The wood has a distinctive odour, most noticable when freshly sawn or planed. This odour is attributed to an included nature resin which is apparently an effective repellant for termite species. The heartwood of cypress is ranked as termite resistant.

The sapwood of cypress is resistant to the lyctus borer but under appropriate hazardous conditions the sapwood could be susceptible to decay, fungi and termites.

Cypress is regarded as a very durable timber, hard wearing (hence useful flooring material), decorative (as internal clear finished panels and furniture), readily painted, low shrinkage (from green) and with good nail holding properties.

Described as a multipurpose building timber, cypress* is useful as fence post (de-sapped) poles, cladding, fascias, bargeboards, decking, internal flooring, internal lining and panelling, external and internal joinery and house framing and furniture.

Because of the relatively tight grain and relatively high density, care should be taken in nailing cypress. In many situations it is advisable to use blunted nailed (chisel point) or pre-drill nail holes to avoid end splitting. These precautions are often wise practise when working with seasoned cypress.

Cypress timber dries quickly but the surface often develops fine checking (very fine surface cracks). On weathering hense for exterior use weather boards, it is desirable to prime-coat the boards before drying which then enhances the overall performance of the final painted finish.

While it is desirable to use seasoned T & G flooring boards for a decorative clear-finished timber floor, the low shrinkage and quick drying characteristic of cypress can provide an economical advantage to owner builders and builders if they revert to a traditional method of laying the floor. This old method required floor boards to be cut into the rooms then loose-laid upside down to form a working platform. After several weeks or months, the site-conditioned boards would be reversed and fixed in place needing only light cramping for a tight floor.