Ipe

[Jerry Thompson]

I just ripped three 4' lengths of Ipe. I was expecting a more dramatic effort than occurred. I used a Freud rip blade that has seen a lot of use in cherry.
My Delta cabinet saw went right through it. No burns, no bogging. Now I am not so uneasy about using it in other applications as the case may warrant.
I might add the wood was 1'' thick.

[John TenEyck]

I cut a lot of Ipe' this summer making my deck and planter boxes. Crosscuts, rip cuts, routing grooves and profiling edges. I didn't find it any harder to work than most other hardwoods I've used, certainly not as difficult as hickory, nor did I find it hard on my tooling. Ipe' has a reputation for being difficult to work with but other than it being really heavy I didn't find it to be that way.

John

[Kent Adams]

I've heard others mention that Hickory is difficult. I'm curious as to why, I've never used it myself.

[Lee Schierer]

I've heard others mention that Hickory is difficult. I'm curious as to why, I've never used it myself.

I've built a complete bedroom suite from hickory and didn't have any significant issues even with a 1-1/2 Hp contractors saw. If your saw is not well aligned the blade can leave burn marks if you let the wood stop at all while making cuts. You also need to take light router cuts for the same reason. Screws will need pilot holes.

[John TenEyck]

I've heard others mention that Hickory is difficult. I'm curious as to why, I've never used it myself.


Simply put, it's hard. Ipe' is supposedly harder, but maybe it's not that hard to cut or mill because it's not fully dry. I don't know, but I've had more trouble jointing and planing hickory than Ipe', especially pignut hickory; awful stuff. It will bounce on the jointer table if the knives aren't very sharp and you don't push down hard.

John

[Brian Holcombe]

Ipe works OK with handtools as well, but can tearout very easily. I dont like using it because I have to resharpen every tool that touches it.

[Jerry Thompson]

I built 3 blanket chest from hickory. I don't recall any troubles with it. It was so long ago I may have forgotten.

[Peter Quinn]

I've milled thousands of BF of IPE, its a mixed bag IME. Its all hard, its all heavy. Its hard on tools because like teak there are minerals, possibly silica bound in its oily fibers, and thats like milling sand paper. Some boards have far more of the yellowish sandy resin in them then others. So you might get 50K LF of ripping out of a good blade with white oak, with IPE that number could be 30K, or less. On a handful of boards, or a few hundred BF you are not likely to see the difference with a good carbide blade. Plane a lot through HSS and the difference becomes apparent much quicker. Some ipe rips quite easily and is fairly stable, some releases more tension, and its a strong species so that tension can really bind up a blade.

Hickory is one of our hardest domestics, not nearly as hard as IPE, problem with hickory is its often a basket case. Not known for its stability. It moves more than many other species, it seems to grow a bit twisted like a cork screw, and can have an absurd amount of tension trapped in its lumber. Ever try splitting it with an axe? Real joy there. I've had a hickory board stop a 7HP cabinet saw dead when splitting a 5" (4/4) board into two strips, not many species will do that. I approach every piece of hickory like its going to be a problem, not all of them are, but the ones that are can get quite hairy. I prefer to rip it on a BS if making FF parts from wider boards. Its one of the most handsome wide plank rustic floors I've ever seen for the right space. When people ask "What floor should I buy with big dogs....." hickory is my first thought!

[Ole Anderson]

I enjoyed doing a small project with Ipe, a lot like Teak, nondescript grain, hard, heavy, didn't notice much tool wear, but then it was a small project. My supplier will thickness it with a sander though as they say it is too hard on their planer blades. Did my kitchen in hickory, big problem I had was routing the rails and styles, I got a lot of chipout. Beautiful rustic grain though.

[Eric Schmid]

My experience has been the same; both are incredibly hard and for somewhat different reasons can be difficult to work. I notice more of a difference between the two when using steel blades; jigsaw, bandsaw, hand saws, and drill bits than with carbide blades and bits. Ipe' can dull these tools very quickly. Hickory is not as hard on steel tools, but screwing and doweling can get pretty exciting!

[guy knight]

works nice dulls blades easy to glue with TBIII and the sawdust is super fine and stains pours materials

[Mike Hollingsworth]

Just don't breath the dust. Nastier than cocobolo.