Best wood for outdoor wood project

[Dave Gallaher]

My brother wants to build a potting bench he can park outside. I have some ash ready, but am wondering. Without getting too exotic, what types of wood hold up to the weather in Northwest Ohio. This project is not meant to last forever, but I don't want it rotting away the first year.

[Jeff Willard]

Don't use ash then. White oak would be better if that's the look you're after. Other good choices would be cypress, mahogany, or if you can find it, black locust. The locust will probably hold up 40+ years in the elements.

[Myk Rian]

Cedar, Redwood, or Southern yellow pine.

[John A langley]

Look at Spanish Cedar

[James Ogle]

Cedar is about the easiest to find, least expensive good wood for outside. I like western red but white is easier to find up north. After that redwood is really nice but expensive. If you can find a local sawyer with some black locust you are in business. I could only find about 50bdft the last time I looked in Northern Virginia, haven't needed any since moving to Texas. Of course good mahogany, teak, ipe, and most of the rest of the tropicals will perform well.

[ken gibbs]

Five years ago I made two two adrondack chairs out orf scraps of Trix material. They have been sitting on a pier over tidal salt water and are just as sound as the first day I put them out there. They have been through several Atlantic hurricanes and are no worse for wear. I did have to tie them onto the pier but no problems with this stuff. I covered all of the steel bolts with Gorilla Glue and used Gorilla Glue to bond all of the joints. You can work it with regular router bits. If you want something that will last, this is your answer.

[Roger Benton]

IPE is great outdoors and is cheap right now, at least it is by me.
makes your planer twice as loud, though...

[Glen Butler]

Cedar, redwood, or borate impregnated fir, or trex.:D

[kenneth kayser]

I built a redwood picket fence almost 50 years ago. We tore it down and saved some of the pickets. they were stored over ten years with the end grain on bare ground. Almost all of them are still in perfect condition. I think cedar is almost as good and much more available. Unless you want the look, I don't think white oak is a good choice. We have a used whiskey barrel (I think they are all white oak) and it has not stood up well in the weather. White oak is used in barrels. A cooper once told me that there is no substitute. But barrel staves are not exposed to liquid and the barrels themselves are not generally stored outdoors.

[Wayne Cannon]

Be careful about using today's redwood. Old growth heart redwood is very rot and insect resistant, but new heart redwood is only mediocre. The other species mentioned here would be better than new redwood, i.e., cedar, cypress, white oak, mahogany, ipe, etc. I love ipe, but it is DENSE/HEAVY.

See these following excellent USDA publications for information on decay and insect resistance (among many other properties) of American woods:

Softwoods of North America (http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/publications/fplgtr102.pdf)
Hardwoods of North America (http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/publications/fplgtr83.pdf)
Properties of Imported Tropical Woods (http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/publications/fplrp125.pdf)
USDA Forest Products Laboratory list of downloadable publications (http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/publications/)

[Glen Butler]

True Wayne, much of the redwood processed these days does not have the heartwood and is not as rot resistant. Thank President Clinton for that.

[Cody Colston]

It depends on the look you are after.

First, don't use Ash. It will not hold up well at all. As mentioned, White Oak will weather fairly well with a similar look.

Also as mentioned, Cedar, Cypress, Locust, Redwood, Mahogany or just about any of the exotics and any of the synthetic wood-like material are all durable with the synthetic stuff lasting decades.

However, if you want a wood structure that will weather the elements and doesn't cost an arm and a leg, then pressure-treated Southern Yellow Pine is probably the best option.

[Danny Hamsley]

If you can get it, Osage Orange has about the best rot resistance of any North American wood. It would be perfect for what you intend to build.

[Kent A Bathurst]

However, if you want a wood structure that will weather the elements and doesn't cost an arm and a leg, then pressure-treated Southern Yellow Pine is probably the best option.

Agree. If you aren't all that fond of the look of PT SYP, consider making the legs + frame from PT, and then cedar for the working surfaces. Or, make the bottom 6" or so of the legs from PT, and cedar from there up. The ground-contact surfaces are the most prone to rot and decay.

[Lee Schierer]

Ipe' will outlast you for an outside project. It is heavy and dense so moving it could prove a problem, but it will last 20+ years....

[Wayne Cannon]

It's not just the lack of heartwood. Even the heartwood of today's rapidly grown redwood is inferior to other species -- only about the same as Douglas Fir, for example. Con Heart redwood still qualifies for ground contact for most building codes, but they are out of date with respect to the characteristics of the wood.

[Scott T Smith]

My brother wants to build a potting bench he can park outside. I have some ash ready, but am wondering. Without getting too exotic, what types of wood hold up to the weather in
Northwest Ohio. This project is not meant to last forever, but I don't want it rotting away the first year.


Dave, there has been a lot of great advice on this string. Domestic woods that are weather resistant, in order of resistance, include Osage orange, black and yellow locust, white oak, the various cedars and redwoods, and cypress.

Osage orange is also called bodarc or something similar in various parts of the country. Osage orange and the locusts are usually more durable than PT pine. Stay away from honey and white locust - they are not rot resistant.

If your brother wants a more "natural look", then you ought to be able to buy rough cut white oak at a local sawmill for around $1.50 a board foot, give or take fifty cents. There are lots of Amish sawmills in parts of Ohio that mill white oak.

Cypress is great to work with, but I don't think that it is indigenous to Ohio.

Do not use untreated SYP - it will rot out where water lays on it.