Cypress is a softwood from the southeastern section of the United States. It boasts a light to yellowish brown color with a straight grain and medium to coarse texture. While all species are durable, the older growth trees are rated as very durable. It machines easily, but tear out can be prevalent with dull cutters. Cypress has been used for outdoor siding, wall and ceiling paneling, and any other project that requires a high durability and easy workability. It has also seen extensive use in boat building and dockwork. From time to time we get a subspecies known as pecky cypress which is full of holes caused by a fungal attack on the tree. These can make some truly stunning results when coupled with colored epoxy resins. Cypress is sold with either #2 (knotty) or FAS (clear) grading. With a Janka hardness of 510, and a weight per board foot of 2.2 pounds, cypress is one of the lightest most durable wood species on the market.
VARIATIONS AND OPTIONS
4/4 refers to lumber that was cut at 1 inch thickness
15/16ths has been skip planed (a majority of the surfacing work has been done, there may be a few spots that are still rough, but the grain of the particular piece of wood should be visible)
13/16ths is commonly called finish planed. This should be ready for sanding and finish
Ripped 1 Edge is lumber that has been run through a straight-line rip saw. This allows for easy squaring on a table saw.
Sanded refers to a select few lumber options that have been run through a belt sander and are 100% finish ready.
5/4 lumber was sawn at 1.25 inches in thickness.
6/4 lumber was sawn at 1.5 inches in thickness.
8/4 lumber was sawn at 2 inches in thickness.
10/4 lumber was sawn at 2.5 inches in thickness.
12/4 lumber was sawn at 3 inches in thickness.