Has anyone ever heard of Cyptus? or Cyptos?
I’m just learning about hardwoods and I stop by the supplier whenever I get the chance, just to look around and see what’s available. There’s bocote, zebra, bubinga, wenge, myrtle, tiger and snake, macassar, ebony and all the other popular species and a few not so popular. Then I see this one, doesn’t cost a lot, has some nice grain, light color wood, called cyptos, or cyptus.. could have been an o or a u, I couldn’t tell. But I got a piece of it for 20 bucks with my contractor discount, just to try some stains and finishes on it. Nice wood, polished up real well, took stain well, I wouldn’t mind making a small box or something with it after I sand off all the finishes I tried on it. But I’d like to learn a little more about it. Well…
I searched the internet like a hound after a rabbit for two days and couldn’t find any mention at all about it. Like they had just invented it and nobody else had ever heard of it. Finally, I find an image of what appears to be the exact same board I bought. Apparently the “t” is supposed to be an “r”, and there is supposed to be a second “s” at the end. And that o or u, is suppose to be an e. What I have is a piece of common cypress!
Nice wood, though. Maybe I’ll make a jewelry box out of it, and call it a cyptus box. =)
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Replies
There's a possibility you may come across some 'lyptus'. It's a recent wood from Weyerhauser.
Hmm... I did a google search and found some images of Liptus, looks similar but not nearly as close a match as the Cypress I saw. I'll have to check when I get out to the hardwood place again.
Here's what I have, plain and with a coat of shellac.
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Edited 3/2/2008 12:29 am by Ted W.
Edited 3/2/2008 12:31 am by Ted W.
FWIW, the box in the picture on the right is made of Lyptus, the one on the left is Cherry.
My lyptus is a bit pinker than in your picture.
Mike
Mike,
Ooohhh, those are some really nice looking bracket feet!
If you don't mind, and not to hijack this discussion, could you tell us a bit more about the pieces? I like the design.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Bob,
I am somewhat embarrassed to tell you how I made those.
I am making a series of 5 cabinets, 2 cherry, flame birch, lyptus, and canary.
The feet are two layers of 4/4 boards glued up then I used a very large core box bit for the "innie" and a roundover for the top. I had drawn up the foot on graph paper and then looked at the curves and found them to be close enough to circles that I firmed up the drawing with a circle template, liked it, then went looking for router bits to match. Found them at Eagle America, 1 inch diameter core box, 1 1/2 roundover.
Routered the rough shape - which left a couple flats on the outer surface so I could set it on that surface and bandsaw the shape. Used a block plane to smooth out the curves. Then I made a sled with hold downs to cut the 45's and "Bob's your uncle!" (I have always wanted to use that phrase to someone named Bob - thanks for the opportunity)
Somewhat embarassed as it is almost entirely by machine.
Mike
Thanks Mike,
What caught my eye immediately are the proportions of the feet to the piece. In my opinion they are dead on.
I usually don't get all that hung up on how something is made, i.e. machine vs hand, except of course when it's period reproduction.
By the by, the QA piece is coming along quite nicely. Got the top and ends nearly done, legs are 75%, just have to figure out how I'm going to do the back. Hopefully it'll be ready just in time for finish as the weather gets warmer.
I've managed to get all the new tools under control and the DC is well on its way so I'm back at it. Thanks again,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 3/5/2008 10:27 am ET by KiddervilleAcres
Ted,
Lyptus has a wide range of colors and grain patterns, so one or two pics. aren't going to tell you much.
I can easily see the L being mistaken for a C.
See ya cater, Rob
Ted,
That's definitely Lyptus. Cypress is a soft wood with a similar appearance to southern yellow pine in that the difference between the early/latewood is a light tan or cream color and a light brown. Try pushing your fingernail into it, cypress dents very easily.
View Image
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That definitely looks like Lyptus.
On the other hand, I noticed that the latest Woodwork magazine called some wood "Cyprus." I guess it passed the spell-checker so it must be right....
Of course, that's not as bad as a piece in Fine Woodworking several years ago where the word "yolk" was used where "yoke" would have been the right choice.
-Steve
It looks exactly like the lyptus I've used. Be careful working with it, some people have allergic reactions to the dust.
John W.
And it makes some humdingers for splinters! (especially if you happen to seat one directly underneath a fingernail . oooo)
Real trucks dont have sparkplugs
I was by the wood store today. Yep... it's lyptus. Thanks for all the feedback. I'm learnin'! ;)--------------------------------------------------------
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By crossing two distinct species of Eucalyptus, scientists were able to create a hardwood-like lumber from a tree that grows extremely fast. They trademarked this new hybrid as Lyptus. It's REAL hard, but it makes nice panels for cabinets, doors, tabletops and the like. And as one guy mentioned, it's got bad splinters, mebbe not as bad a Leopardwood, but very splintery. It's a pretty wood.
"...scientists were able to create a hardwood-like lumber..."
Eucalyptus trees are hardwoods. ;-)
-Steve
Didn't say they weren't. I just verified the wood is hardwood-like. Just FYI, because most north Americans are not that familiar with Eucalyptus, and there are exceptions: a few evergreens, typically called "softwoods", yield hardwood-like properties. Southern yellow pine is an example. And a few deciduous trees, typically called "hardwood" (larch, for example) yield a softwood-like lumber.
Edited 3/4/2008 9:00 am ET by blewcrowe
Darn crossdressers are eveywhere!
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
I know. Just about the time you think you got everthing figgered out, a soft hardwood comes along and gums up yer carbide.
You said that the wood was "hardwood-like," which implies, "not actually a hardwood, but like one." I was merely pointing out that the wood is, in fact, a hardwood.
[Tangential aside] The evergreen/deciduous distinction is as much a red herring as the soft/hard distinction. Some softwoods are deciduous, some hardwoods are evergreen. Some softwoods are very hard, some hardwoods are very soft.
The actual distinction is botanical: "Softwoods" are members of the division Pinophyta (conifers); "hardwoods" are members of the class Magnoliopsida (dicots) in the division Magnoliophyta (angiosperms or "flowering plants").
And there are at least a few species occasionally cut for lumber that don't fall into either classification: Ginkgo is in its own division (Ginkgophyta); the many species of palm and bamboo are monocot angiosperms.
-Steve
Steve, the explanation is a good one, and I have plant and soil science degrees, and am fairly familiar with my biology, zoology and botany. I apologize if my original post somehow stepped on your toes: I intended no harm or mystification.
No toes were harmed. I just wanted to be sure that the original poster didn't get the mistaken impression that Lyptus was in some way a softwood.
-Steve
Okay, I'll explain it clearer next time. Later.
So then, Lyptus is a cross between eucalyptus cough drops and petrified pine trees? It looks like white oak without the green tint.
Naaa... just kidding. I get it. By cross breeding a couple of different Eucalyptus species they created a new one that's harder. I like the wood, and this thread has been very educational.
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Edited 3/4/2008 11:29 pm by Ted W.
The color seems to vary quite a lot from board to board. It's usually advertised as being like cherry in color and mahogany in texture, and I'd say that most boards do fit that description. But I've seen a few very pallid boards, and I have one that's quite a deep pinkish/reddish color.
-Steve
Harder and a lot faster. They can harvest fairly wide lumber 15 years from planting --- way faster than most others.
Ted,
Lyptus has been making inroads into flooring also. We used to sell quite a bit of it for commercial applications when I worked for a flooring company.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
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