Hi gang,
Barry twigged me to ask a question that I have been meaning to ask for a while. I was looking at his carving of a cypress knee. I have about thirty of them that I purchased about five years ago in Florida and have had them stored in my shop. When I was in Florida I watched them boil the knee's and remove the bark very easy. My problem now is that the bark is on like glue. Does anyone know if there is an easy method of removing it I tried with a wire wheel but it marks the wood and is really dusty and messy.
Thanks in advance
Colin

[Kenny_S]

Wish I could help Colin, but The only dealing with Cypress knees was back in Jr High shop ( a few days ago) : and we made lamps out of them. Gave a couple to my Grandmother and mother. Got them back when they passed away. May have to try my hand at carving them. Probanly not unique but a carved Cyprees knee lamp might be an interesting conversation peice.

[sbrown]

I don't know for sure, but I would suspect that boiling them would still remove the bark. I have 'de-barked' a couple using a pressure washer, kinda messy but effective!

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Colin, since you have a lot and could afford to experiment, how about soaking one in water over night, then boiling the next day? I would try that before power removing of the bark, I just spent two weeks sick that started from breathing the dust from pulling that stunt!! : :P

[AlArchie]

I had a cypress knee once, the Doc prescribed relafin and it cleared up in about a week.

Al

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Yeh, I had a knock knee once too, but I answered it! : :P

[Doug Ridley]

Sandblasting will work but I prefer boiling. Boiling works best when they are green but you can still do it. Put them in a 55 gallon drum and soak for a week, You will have to weight them down. Then use a weedburner or some sort of turkey cooker and boil them for 4 hours. Peel while hot. If they are small enough I have boiled 3 or 4 at a time the on the kitchen stove. (make sure your wife is not home) DAMHIKT

[Lightningbolt]

I've gone through quite a few knee's over the decades and I've found that the sooner they are transfered from "swamp-to-boiling", the better. In recent years I've had a personal friend who lives on the coast who has kept me well supplied but unfortunately I usually get them after they've had just too many days out of their beloved swampy home where the normal boiling process just doesn't do the job, although I'll have to experiment with some of the above mentioned suggestions.

For those knee's that get dried out with the bark still on I just use for full-knee carving such as some of the nice santa's that have been posted here recently. On others I treat them like some of my walking sticks when I prefer to leave the bark on the stick... I just lightly sand the outer bark until I reach portions of the inner bark, then once again lightly sand by hand using steel wool. This process leaves a VERY beautiful and darkened blend of reds & browns which really make the carving portion of the spirit (or whatever) stand out with the bright cream colored wood. I actually like to have some knee's on hand with the bark dried on them... and actually, I'm just glad to get them any way that they come and especially the free one's!

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

I just finished my first cypress knee...is fun and challenging trying to come up with a design that fits the knee without changing the profile too much......I need to find a source besides ebay, for the boiled ones, I like the satin sheen they have. I will try to take a picture today and post it. thanks for the info guys!

[rollman]

Originally Posted by Hi_Ho_Sliver

I just finished my first cypress knee...is fun and challenging trying to come up with a design that fits the knee without changing the profile too much......I need to find a source besides ebay, for the boiled ones, I like the satin sheen they have. I will try to take a picture today and post it. thanks for the info guys!

http://www.cypressknee.com/ Seems to be real reasonable with prices .