I am from the swamps of south east texas and have more cypress tree than anything else. What can I make out of this wood?

Is it too weak for bows?
Knife handle?

they make fine walking sticks.

let me know, and post pics if you have any ideas

I've tried a couple of backed bows out of it, and neither held together.  I'm sure it would work in the hands of a master wood bowyer, but I ain't the one.

ttt

I think it would be good as a longbow limb wood under clear glass.

It makes one of the finest box calls I have ever made.  Distinct tone and easy to work.  That is the extent of my experience with it.

I heard somewhere seminoles used them to make bows but since I've never seen one or heard much about it I doubt it.

The swamps are full of pecans so I don't know why they'd use that wood is the real reason I doubt it.

The bark was used to make roofing material and the fibers can make cord. I'm pretty sure thats what the natives in our area used for nets and fishing line. Not very pragmatic in this day in age though.

It was also the best wood to make dugout canoes. The wood is hard pressed to rot.

Check this out
http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/tejas/fundamentals/images/canoe1.html

Some Baxley GA cypress has made damn good siding on my house for the last 18 years.

i actually know somebody who made a couple of glass bows with cypress.  One didn't hold up and one hangs on the wall for decoration.  

Swamp Pygmy, I think pecan would be to brittle.  It's hard but it's bad about checking.

My cousin sawed a cypress knee at the base, sanded it and sealed it with poly.  It turned out beautiful.  He used it as a door stop.

Parogue (sp?) board boats, shingles, siding, paneling, other light weight water resistant applications. Cypress framed and siding homes last for centuries in the humid south.

I would think it might make a good arrow wood.

And the very finest tourist industries lamps from the 1950's like this one in my living room.