Scientific name:
Callitrus, glauca

Other names:
Bald cypress
Red cypress
Yellow cypress
Southern cypress

With a wide range of cream/straw/honey brown tones and filled with darker character knots, Australian Cypress is the ideal flooring choice wherever a warm, rustic country look is desired. Slow growth in a semi-arid area in Australia allows this species to be the only commercial softwood harder than red oak. Most cypress trees are natives of the South.

They are found primarily in wet, swampy areas along the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Delaware to Florida, and west along the Gulf of Mexico to the border of Texas and Mexico. Cypress also thrives along the Mississippi Valley from the Louisiana delta to southern Indiana.

Weight:
2.800 lbs per sq. ft; Shipping Weight: 3.1 lbs per square foot.

Use:
Siding, shutters, shingles, trim, fence posts, paneling, moulding, millwork, cabinetry, flooring, furniture.

General characteristic:
Australian Cypress will exhibit a modest amount of color change over time with a slight muting of the color range and some ambering. The sapwood is pale yellow white with the heartwood varying in color from light to dark or reddish brown.

Working properties:
Cypress machines well, planes easily and resists warping. Pre-boring at board edges will help prevent splitting. It nails and screws very well. It glues well, sands easily and readily accepts finishes.

Drying and shrinkage:
Cypress has very low shrinkage, approximately 2.5% radially, and has very fine surface checking which can be minimized by sealing while green to slow drying.

Durability:
This indigenous softwood timber possesses an incredible natural resistance to termite and borer attack as well as such high durability that chemical treatments, needed to preserve most other timbers, are unnecessary.