Anyone ever used cypress boards to make stretchers? Took a look at sample boards for coon, grey fox , cat & otter today a cousin made. Using an electric stapler, these should be work good and made for less than half the price of purchasing basswood stretchers.

I use them. They work great. I have coon boards and fox boards made from them. The eletric stapler makes it much easier. I wish I had 100 of them.

M. Howard,
We got a small family-owned saw mill near here that specializes in cypress. $9.00 for an 8 foot board wide enough to make four 48" coon boards ripped 3/8" thick. Sanded the faces and rounded the edges. Makes a good looking board. That's about $2.25 per coon board plus a little elbow grease with the jig saw and electric sander.

I would think cypress would make fine stretchers.

a freind of mine made me some for coon. i love them! he made me a couple out of poplar and they are a booger to get a staple into and out of! the cypress really held up good for me last season with no warping or splitting. i hope to get me a dozen more this season.

Does the cypress stay soft over time?

Clay,

That is what I'm wondering. As cypress dries completely it does have a tendacy to harden somewhat. Still should be OK though using an elctric stapler instead of push pins.

I got mine for free out of the bone pile from a local saw mill. They were suppose to have been cut 3/4" and were miss cut to 9/10". The fastest way I have found to make the boards is with a shaper and router. Get a good pattern board and drill pilot holes in it. Then screw the cypress to the pattern board and run through the shaper. It makes them just like the pattern, then I take a rounding bit router and run down both sides top and bottom. I have made a good number of boards this way. The problem I have had with the 3/8" boards is warpping. They will warp where the 1/2-9/16" want. If they were to split in time, I take a two 1/2"x1"x7" board and nail the base of the board. This stops the splitting.

Also, I have not found that the cypress gets hard over time.

I agree about the 3/8" thick boards. I also think that a coon when he comes off a 1/2" thick board has a "fuller" appearance. Maybe it's just in my mind. It's hard to believe that 1/8" will make a difference. !/2" boards are certainly a lot tougher.
I have zero experience with cypress!! I do have some cottonwood otter boards that have gotten very hard over the years.

I agree 100% Clay. I think coons and fox look way fuller coming off 1/2" boards. When coming off the 3/8" boards, I feel the edges are sharp and thin looking.

Catalpha also works great.

Never heard of using catalpha before. We have them in Missouri. Do they stay soft over time?

i have some cypress coon, coyote, cat and fox boards, and really like em.

I have some boards I made out of catalpha about 3 years ago. They are just about as soft as basswood. I can push a push pin in it real easy.

One thing is for sure, putting fur on wood boards is catching on. I've been to a good many NTA Conventions, the last 8 in a row included, and I've never seen so many board stretchers being displayed by vendors and tailgaters alike.

There are some good ones and some not so good. I saw some boards that were perfect size, but the edges were beveled down to a almost a 1/4" on the edges. The guy explained that you get a little more length out of them. My poor coons down here need all the thickness to look full. I love rounded edges at least 1/2" thick.