Ipe gloat and question

[Rob Price]

Okay, so I think I got a good deal on some Ipe. My dealer (ie wood supplier) just finished a deck and the lumber company threw in a couple of extra 20ft boards to cover any potential damage/warped/unusable pieces. They are already dressed, 3/4 planks, 5 1/4 wide, etc. He had four boards he wanted to get rid of and sold them to me for $1 ln foot! So now I have enough for two Adirondack chairs (Norm's style probably) for $80.

I know I need to be careful about fasteners, etc in this wood. He talked about using silicone bronze screws in it. I went over to McFeely's and found trim head (http://www.mcfeelys.com/product/0715-HTB), brown colored, stainless screws. The heads are smaller and colored brown to match the wood. They even sell a little predrill jig that countersinks just right to get the heads flush.

Any other thoughts on fasteners for this wood? Anyone used pocket screws? I could plug the holes as well, but more labor intensive, and while these will be nice chairs, they are still outside furniture and not some fine jewelry box sitting on a dresser.

Pics of the Ipe tomorrow...

[Carl Babel]

First, the obligatory "You suck!"

Wow, $1 / ln foot, you really scored - congrats!

I haven't personally worked with Ipe, but I have a colleague who built his deck out of it. He pre-drilled and used stainless.

[Ray DuBose]

Congrats on the Good Price. I made a Table out of it for my 2 Big Green Eggs. The stuff cuts and machines nicely, you'll need to predrill any holes before you try to screw into it and I went through several bits as drilling was hard. I just used the McFeely's Stainless Steel Screws to put it together and finished it with Penofin Outdoor Hardwood Penetrating oil. It's about 4 years old and still looks great.

BTW the stuff splinters alot so watch out. I have never gotten as many splinters as I had working with Ipe.

Ray

[Brent Ring]

Until the pics are up - never happened :)

You suck - I was pricing IPE for a double rocking adirondack for my wife. $600 bucks So we dont have it yet.

[Erik Christensen]

I had a friend give me a number of board remnants left over from his new deck. It planes & cuts well but I had issues with shaping/routing as that had more tearout than I expected given how well it cut (well meaning the finished product was good but it took a LOT of effort). Sanding is a exercise in patience - that stuff is HARD - it makes sugar maple seem soft.

I have built only small projects so far - wine racks, etc. so my only fasteners have been glue & loose tenon (domino). It takes finish well, but the stuff is so tough that finish is for appearance only - this wood needs no protecting.

[Mike Schuch]

I built my staircase with slate treads set in Ipe frames... The Ipe is much harder than the slate. For the front lips I put 2 pieces of Ipe together with 45 degree lock miters. It milled very nicely in my shaper even when taking deep cuts. The feed rate was very slow though.

The day after milling all of those 45 degree lock miters I went out to the shop to find my $400 set of 12" stacked dados covered with fresh fury rust!!!! I was heart broken until I figured out it was just Ipe dust. The wood is so hard that it makes very fine dust. WEAR A RESPIRATOR!!!!!

All of the projects I have ever built with Ipe have always been jointed and glued usually with dowels. I believe pocket holes would work well with Ipe but you would also need to drill the piece the screw is going into.

I use 1/3 tung oil, 1/3 turpentine and 1/3 spar varnish to finish Ipe with excellent results!!!! It really brings out the grain and coloring of the Ipe which I think is some of the most beautiful available!

[Rob Price]

Thanks for the tips, I will definitely wear a respirator...

I went with the brown, trim head screws from McFeely's. No plugs, sorry. I will probably slap on some tightbond III as well.

Here are some pics for the skeptics... The flash seems to wash some of the brown out. And show every speck of dust...

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_6indXr7ZvkY/TV5626eJZGI/AAAAAAAABWk/w9NjyUKUqnw/s800/IMG_6728.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_6indXr7ZvkY/TV562d3jz9I/AAAAAAAABWg/JQMiWGJSgeE/s800/IMG_6727.jpg

[Ole Anderson]

$2 a board foot, that does suck! I redid one of those cast iron park benches that had some kind of generic chinese wood, looked like Oak, which had rotted. It took over $100 of Ipe to finish the project, but it will never have to be redone. Loved working with it. Left it natural.

[Lee Schierer]

We did some testing on IPE for a preservative that an affiliated company was developing. Almost nothing (oil, alcohol, water, lacquer thinner, mineral spirits) used for wood finishing penetrates IPE very far. After soaking it in an oil based solution for 24 hours the penetration into the wood was less than 1/16" and it appeared that most of that might have been carry over from the saw teeth from the surface.

Your Adirondack chairs are going to weigh a ton as the wood is very dense. So dense it does not float.

[Greg Portland]

Your Adirondack chairs are going to weigh a ton as the wood is very dense. So dense it does not float.Ipe is extremely strong so standard thicknesses may not be required for the seat and back slats. Many people use 3/4" ipe deck boards as an equivalent to 1.5" pine or cedar in terms of strength.

[Vince Shriver]

[QUOTEYour Adirondack chairs are going to weigh a ton as the wood is very dense. So dense it does not float.[/QUOTE]

Damn, I thought my only problem was figuring how to get this boat out of the basement - now you say it won't float!

[Gary Redden]

Damn, I thought my only problem was figuring how to get this boat out of the basement - now you say it won't float!

It will float :) Concrete and steel boats float, just not the pieces that you cut off.