Wood suggestions for park benches

[Rachel Treacher]

Hi,

We recently purchased concrete bench molds for making concrete bench legs.
The benches require 7 wooden slats to be put in place, but I'm not sure what kind of wood would be suitable. The website suggests using 7ft 2x4s. We'll be making around 30 park benches for public areas in MA. The weather conditions range from very snowy winters to very hot, humid summers. The website for the molds is here: concretebenchmolds.com (http://concretebenchmolds.com). In the example benches on the website, it looks like the people used a cheap pineboard and painted it. We'd like to make something similar, but without the paint. I'd greatly appreciate it if someone could make a few suggestions for appropriate types of wood for different price ranges. We're hoping the benches will last 5-10 years without needing repair.

Many thanks!

[Todd Burch]

Untreated pine would last 5 years. Down here, treated pine would probably be used (gross).

Cedar would be a good option if the span's aren't too great.

Cypress, White Oak, Black Locust, Mahogany, Ipe and Teak (least expensive to most expensive - depending in where you live) are all rot resistant.

[Sam Murdoch]

All but the last 2 on Todd's list would need a finish in order for them to last as long as the Teak without a finish. The only thing that will get to the teak would be mold if kept under a tree where sun rarely shines. Left untreated it will go to a very lovely gray that will be renewed by people sitting on the bench or by a good cleaning with a stiff brush and soapy solution every early summer.

[Larry Fox]

I would look at Jatoba - I did a bench for my parents a while back and left it unfinished. Turned a nice silver / grey it has held up very well. It sits outside all year round.

[Jeff Duncan]

You want Ipe for the benches! You can use slightly thinner stock than what's recommended due to Ipe being incredibly hard and very strong. It's much less expensive, and much harder than Teak and will likely last just as long. My former shop landlord ran a business supplying garbage receptacles and benches in Boston and that's the wood he used, and the stuff he made well over 10 years ago is still going strong and probably will for the rest of my lifetime. 5-10 years for a public bench is a very short lifespan IMHO....which I'm entitled to as my tax dollars will be paying for it;)

Benches made with softwoods are generally painted and have very short lifespans comparably due to neglect. There are also companies starting to use the man made products for benches in the 2x sizes. Not sure where they fit price wise, but one downside is they seem to develop a bit of sag over time.

good luck,
JeffD

[Rachel Treacher]

Thanks for the info, guys! Much appreciated.

[Mike Cutler]

Ipe

If you have an in at a Lumber Liquidators, or a flooring distributor, you may find that the shipping pallets are made of Ipe, and will be tossed. General Woodcraft in New London CT. had a pile of Ipe at 40% off last time I was there.

[scott vroom]

Have you considered one of the man-made composite materials as an alternative to wood? Virtually maintenance free and will last a lifetime.

[Richard Coers]

Went to the site. WOW, $650 per set for the plastic molds. Someone wants to pay off the tooling for the molds as soon as possible!

[Kent A Bathurst]

Check out Iroko. aka African Teak. Not teak - that's the marketing guys at work. But - it has the reputation for being a very long-lasting, zero-maintenance, outdoor bench wood.

[Roger Feeley]

Ditto the suggestion of man-made materials. I have some back steps from Trex. After about 5 years, I had to take the steps off of the supporting wood and remake the supports. The wood rotted but the Trex is going strong.

The only issue with the man-mades would be the span. Otherwise, there are lot's of up-sides. No splinters, cracking or checking. No refinishing. No power washing. Lasts a long time. Easy to machine.

[ian maybury]

Iroko is pretty stock over here for outdoors. I have Iroko gates outdoors for 12 years with a couple of coats of Sadolin (half of which fell off after a couple of years), and which show not a sign of rot. A bit of green mould which wiped off for re-finishing this Summer. Our climate is very wet, but doesn't get so cold as MA. Only the odd bout of frost.

The one issue to bear in mind is that it's next to impossible to paint or cover in any finish. I've seen some guys i know also doing street furniture try every coating that moves on it and get no-where. Even following the recommendations of a very posh German coatings company that proved to be rubbish. The result is that it seems like the grey colour it naturally turns to is really the only stable option.

There's treatments intended for boat decks available in the US that claim to restore the natural brown colour, but not sure if they really work.....

ian

[Jim Barstow]

We have a bunch of land near the coast in the wine country of northern CA. I've put in 6 benches on a trail system, the oldest of which is about 3 years old. I used Gerber steel frames set in concrete and redwood for the
bench and back. We don't get snow but we can get blistering sun and got 50" of rain 2 winters ago. The redwood has held up beautifully with no finish. I did NOT use clear grain since it is so expensive and
I didn't want to risk it coming from old growth trees. Fortunately, the lumber yard guy helped me pick out a couple of choice pieces with tiny, tight knots that I considered "almost clear".

[David Peebles 1]

When we were in Australia, I was astonished at the beautiful eucalyptus ("gum" to the Aussies) we saw everywhere outdoors. Park benches, boardwalks, the floor in a park restroom, handrails, etc. I don't know what species it was (I've heard black gum was tried as railroad sleepers in this country, and that it all quickly rotted away). I don't recall ever seeing any of it that had grayed. A beautiful dark reddish brown, with tight curly interlocking grain, often in long timbers and planks, and no knots. It resembled rosewood. I wanted to ship a load of it home, I was so envious. I guess wherever you are, you use what you've got.

[Carl Beckett]

I live in MA after living in other parts of the US. There is some weather here, and things rot more quickly than other places I have lived.

I would recommend IPE. Should last longer than 5 years ( 5 years is a pretty short lifetime to be rebuilding over). Expensive. And not necessarily 'green'

A cheaper and more readily available species would be white oak. You should be able to get this easily and at lower cost. Should last 5 years

The man made composites you will have to engineer the Span. My experience is that they are not stiff enough for an 8th bench Span

I wouldn't even bother building with pine or something that needed paint to protect. Won't make it 3 years even.

$.02

[Jake Helmboldt]

Ipe decking often carries a 25 year warranty from some suppliers. It is super dense, naturally oily and is both rot and bug resistant. Super stiff and hard so its plenty durable. You could use regular 4/4 decking but might need to run a vertical rib under each slat to prevent sag in the middle. But it would be cheaper than going with a 6/4 or thicker board and pretty minimal extra work. Be sure to use stainless fasteners and pre-drill if you use it. Trex or other composite decking would need considerable structural support as it would sag badly with weight on it.

[Kevin Guarnotta]

I am in MA too. I have done a few decks around here. I have used mahogany, ipe, and lately massaranduba. That last one is a Brazilian Redwood-or so I'm told. It works a little better than Ipe, is much cheaper, and will last about as long. It starts out a nice deep red, and will turn greyish over time. If you want to maintain the color you can stain it-but you need to get the right type of stain. Staining is nice is you like to keep that deep red color...but it is extra work. For a public set up like you are talking- going with letting it weather.

One other thing- when you cut any of these hard woods (especially Ipe and Massaranduba) you need to seal the ends. I use Anchor seal which is like a liquid wax. I recommend sealing as soon as you cut. If you don't seal it, they will split.

as for thickness - go for the true 1" thick stuff at least.

[Paul DeCarlo]

Check out Accoya: http://www.accoya.com/

You can get it here: http://www.rexlumber.com/

Been using this for exterior applications in Florida, a very tough environment for wood outdoors. So far so good. Manufacturer states its good for 50 years outside, 25 years buried in the ground. Been used in Europe with success for years....

[Carl Beckett]

Oh, and Black Locust. Used to use it for fence posts, but its beginning to gain popularity for woodworking. (would prefer the hedgeapple wood over the black locust even, but unlikely to get anything like that in these parts)