[Woodcarver] CYPRESS KNEES QUESTION

[Linehan718 at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/16/2005 1:25:33 PM Eastern Daylight Time,  
harounhadadi2 at yahoo.com writes:

what are  cypress knees? 
where does one find it or harvest it? 
is it easy to  carve? what are its negative and
positive qualities? 
is it expensive to  buy?

haroun from finland



Hi Harry,   don't know where you'de get them in europe,  they grow in the 
southern swamps of the US..  They are not really wood but  are part of the root 
system of the cypress trees that grow out in the  water.  The knees grow up out 
of the water off the roots, supposedly so the  roots can breathe.  They are a 
beautiful thing to carve.  The only  negative is getting the bark off.  Some 
boil em, some scrape em.   Best part is that they have no true grain and can 
be carved in any direction.  another good thing is that they can come in some 
pretty wierd shapes, sometimes  you can see things in them.  Best stuff is two 
feet above or below the  water line.  In and of themselves they aren't so 
costly but the shipping  usually doubles the price.  to you I imagine it would 
triple or more the  price.  But I reccomend trying it.  I get them once in a 
while from  ebay.
 
Maura carvin'  in  nyc
http://www.carvinginNYC.com
http://www.picturetrail.com/carvinginnyc
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