cypress lumber

[henry j]

Hi guys and ladys ?? I am just getting into this wooden boat thing. I grew up in the southern part of Ga. (Jesup) where there was lot of swamps and flat land that could be a swamp anytime.. The wooden boats on the river (ALTAMAHA)were home made and the wood was Cypress. This was about 1950 an I might say the best part of my life I think. Just a great place to grow up.
Anyway I am now looking to build a small boat and would like to find so nice Cypress. If any one can help me please let me hear from you soon.

 

[oldsparkey]

Henry j .. Welcome to the nut house and we just happed to have some of those folks on here who are making boats (pirogues ) out of cypress. With a little luck they might be able to let you know where to locate some. Especially if you are in the area of Louisiana today.
http://www.neilbank.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3619

Here in the central part of Florida , the best place to locate cypress is at the local Ma and Pa Sawmills.

Now as far as Jesup Ga goes there is this one person ( I think he is a person and not a fish ) called catfish who claims to live there in Jesup. Could this of been one reason that you moved ...... Naw , I better not ask that question. It is not good to ask a question that you aren't sure of the answer.
My Uncle and Aunt lived at Jesup Ga for a while and really enjoyed the time there. Plus they never said anything to me about a catfish walking around town , lots of fried catfish meals but no walking ones.

Chuck.

 

[henry j]

Jesup/catfish

Well old-sparkey Jesup has a lot of fish that came out of that old river and lots of them were catfish. I guess catfish has talked about the Altamaha river and the swamps, they held some of the biggest cypress trees in the south. A little town right on the river that was really a very big sawmill and cypress was the wood I remember seeing. They had their own paddle wheel boat that would bring the logs up or down to the mill. Well the best I can remember it burned down and I always heard that one of the owners kids set the fire. Sky-high piles of lumber and it all burned up and they never opened the mill again, said to me now because you can't find lumber like that now days.
I ran across a man in OAKHILL Ga. that was making very nice boats in his back yard but that has been 15 years ago so I don't think his still around. I do get out and look for mom & pop mills when I get time and can go that for from home. You can find a lot of stuff on the backs roads if you will just take the time to look around. And I am alway on the look out for lumber, bulldogs and I will throw in tall redheads just to be on the safe side.

I guess I better get up and do something, the shop always need a good sweeping out so I will go for now.
Thanks for the reply and welcome aboard.

henry j

 

[seedtick]

Hi henry j,

Probably have some sinkers at the bottom of rivers or lakes around you. Don't know the legal part of recovery in Ga. Like sparkey said, small mills your best chance. Just be sure you get the old growth cypress and not the stuff we call grobac (grow back).
It takes a cypress tree something like 450 years to develop the oil (cypressene) that makes it naturally water and insect resistant. Those trees were mostly harvested 100 years ago. If you find some and the growth rings aren't tight like this, then it's probably grobac.

 

[henry j]

old cypress

Hi seedtick, thanks for the help, I guess that is the very reason I didn't just jump in a pile of cypress and start building a "boat",because I didn't know all of that stuff and because of my lifes work (tool and die maker) I don't like to do things but once, so I will start looking for the correct stuff. I almost know for a fact that the two guys (20 years ago) didn't know that but they sure made some boats that looked nice and would run some big motors on them as that was a big past-time with the younger guys, 12 to 14 ft. long they would set in the bottom of the boat with the controls in the floor and a big old Black Max 110 hp and more on the back. I don't think they were fishing just going fast in a small wooded boat, with about a foot of the stern in the water.
I live in SC. now close to Anderson and Greenville out in the country on 30 ac. Its the life for my wife and I, she is a old retired Army Nurce and can carry 3 more concrete blocks than I can,that is what I keep telling her anyway "BOY YOU ARE STRONG" she knows I am full of it but she is the best help I have ever had, just does what I tell her and no talking but she is a good friend and buddy.
I will keep looking for the plans and materials for this boat I have in my head, just a simple pirogues sounds good to me.
Thanks for the help agan
henry j

 

[catfish]

Hey Henry J man you do know alittle piece of our history here. The paddle wheel boat you are talking is sunk in steam bout slough. When the river gets really low you used to could see the wheel.

If any of you geezers have been in captain joes seafood resturant in jesup there is a picture of that boat on the wall. It shows it going on the river loaded with cypress logs.

The sawmill used to be called mcann lumber company if i,m correct. As far as the little town where the sawmill was is called doctor town. I believe it may have been named after an indian or some traveling doctor. There is alot of history there though.

Henry there is a private sawmill in hoboken ga . I believe the name of it is Rowels , may not be correct spelling. They cut alot of cypress don,t know how old the stuff he uses is. He might could get you some. Henry nice to see some one else besides me & gator -8-em from this part . (cat)

 

[henry j]

Doctor Town

You are right about that old boat, but I think there is more than one. We use to see one right under the railroad bridge,(I think that is why I have to sleep with the lights on today ) because of that of stack sticking up in the water. Then the other boat sank later but it sat there for years before it sank.
I went to school with Tom Mccan ?? I think that was his name, and I heard it was his brother that wanted a new bike and because he didn't get he set fire to the woodyard, and that may be a tale for all I know. I am 65 now somethings I just don't remember so good.

I am going to start looking for some old (good luck)cypress but its the boat I really want to know everything about, the JIGS and all of that stuff. I loved the pictures of the scarf joints, how did you/then do that on the plywood with a big beltsander??? I have used a lot of cypress in houses and furniture its the smell and feel of the wood that makes me crazy. I plan to come to Jesup to visit a friend that lives out at Red Hill, he just retired form the phone Co. (James Tyre) and he and love to ramble around and look for stuff,you know wood,tractors,and anything else we can think of.
Well I didn't mean to take a running off at the mouth but I did sorry about.
Maybe I will get to meet some of you guys one day.

Thanks again
henry j

 

[seedtick]

henryj,

There are many ways to cut a scarf and everybody has their own technique. The first post on the marsh pirogue thread shows a scarf with 1/4" plywood. I go for a 8/1 scarf so for 1/4", draw lines 2" back from the edge and stack the pieces for the scarf. Be sure they are secure and do not move. You can use a hand plane to knock of the top corners and follow up with a belt sander and/or random orbit sander. When the scarf is uniform the glue lines on the plies will be uniform. Use epoxy thickened to ketchsup consistency and it will fill in where the lines aren't perfect.

On 3/8 plywood, use a 3" scarf. Here's a shot of the setup for a 2' wide scraf on 3/8". Biggest problem is keeping the plywood pieces flat and still while scarfing.

 

[bearridge]

Re: Doctor Town

I am 65 now somethings I just don't remember so good.

Friend henry,

Same here.....no, wait....I aint 65 yet. :roll:

Welcome ta Chuck's Cafe,
bearridge

Advice for the day: If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: "Take two aspirin" and "Keep away from children." Unknown

 

[Kayak Jack]

I was 65 once too, a few years ago.