Best woods for outdoors?

[David Eckel]

I'm starting a project, making a wooden sheath for a 12" machete. I'll probably use something soft for the trial project, but want to use something that stands up to the elements for a final project. I know teak is popular for patio furniture, but what other options are out there? Suggestions for finishing are also welcome.

[Jordan Epstein]

Teak is best, if you choose to not treat it, it will grey but still hold up to the outdoor environment. Ipe is also used for outdoor decking. I don't think it is much cheaper than teak though. Mahogany is used instead of teak on boats. It will need to be treated though.

[Bill Dufour]

Redwood is cheap and easy to buy. Might just laminate two fence boards together. Soft and easy to work.
Bill

[Jamie Buxton]

White oak. Stands up to water quite well -- wine and whisky barrels are made of it. Quite strong -- Old Ironsides is planked with it. Glues well, unlike teak. Retailers here sell it for $5 per bdft, while teak is more like $30 pre bdft.

[Bill Adamsen]

White oak can be great ... you do have to be careful that the "species" you select is indeed White oak (has tyloses plugged pores). That's the property imparting rot resistance (prevents it from soaking up water and degrading chemicals) in the White Oak genus. An easy and fast test is to stand a plug in water and/or denatured alcohol (see video below). Another native hardwood that has rot resistant properties is Black locust. Black locust is very hard and in fact some complain it can be difficult to mill though I haven't experienced that. Based on the wood database properties, Black locust compares favorably to the strongest/hardest of the native american hardwoods. I included a section that includes Black locust, some White oaks and Hickories.

Here is a great video by Louis Sauzadde giving a demonstration on how to definitively identify White oak for outdoor projects. He also goes into the process whereby (in marine environment) Red oak deteriorates.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6t2AZubF8U&feature=youtu.be

[Wade Lippman]

Cherry and Walnut are both resistant. I have a 10 year old walnut table that has held up fine. Somewhat cheaper than mahogany.

[David Eckel]

Thank you all for your advice. I'm in Omaha, Nebraska, so I'll look around for a local source for white oak. I hadn't thought about gluing tropical woods, I'm glad I asked.

[Jamie Buxton]

Thank you all for your advice. I'm in Omaha, Nebraska, so I'll look around for a local source for white oak. I hadn't thought about gluing tropical woods, I'm glad I asked.

Some tropical woods glue just fine, but teak is notorious for gluing issues. All the waxes and oils in it protect it from weather, but also do a great job of protecting it from glue.

[David Eckel]

Very helpful. Thank you!

[Nick Shattuck]

I made a trebuchet out of some leftover walnut and cedar a couple of summers ago. I left it outside for quite a while and it just so happened to have both walnut and cedar touching the ground. Both wood types didn't rot, but flipping over the bottom revealed something neat: there were bugs all over the walnut and zero on the cedar. it was kind of neat to see such a difference. Just food for thought.

[Bob Ballard]

What about Osage Orange?

[Carl Baker]

Just a thought; a lot of the woods mentioned for their ability to stand up to rot do so because they contain acids that are somewhat corrosive... especially in wet / humid conditions. If the goal is the protection of the blade, you may want to consider a slightly inferior wood that would be less damaging to the blade. I am guessing you won't want to leave it exposed to the elements all the time anyway, so maybe corrosion is not that big a concern, but if it's not exposed to the elements, then rot resistance of the sheath shouldn't be that big a concern either.

[Brian Holcombe]

I'd probably use old growth douglas fir for something like this.

[John C Bush]

There should be lots of osage in fence rows near Omaha. Finishes nicely and can have interesting grain pattern as well.

[David Eckel]

I'd probably use old growth douglas fir for something like this.
Old growth lumber may be out of my price range.

[David Eckel]

Thank you all for the continued suggestions. The thought of the beauty of white oak made me forget about the tannic acid. Osage orange sounds good, and is easy to get. Any idea about its weather resistance? I'm thinking more along the lines of the unexpected drenching storm or fall into the water regarding weather resistance.

[Ted Phillips]

You might also look to get some cutoffs from a decking professional - the tropical woods they use are incredibly dense and tough, like ipe, cumaru, tigerwood, and garapa. You can usually find off cuts and left over scrap for very cheap. And this stuff wears like iron outdoors.

[Steve Schoene]

Remember that the rot resistance property relates to HEART WOOD. The sap wood is not nearly so resistant.

[scott vroom]

Is it a working machete or ornamental? What type of elements will it be exposed to and for what periods of time?

[David Eckel]

How well do these woods glue up?

[David Eckel]

Working machete. Camping use.

[Bill McDermott]

David, I suspect you are overthinking this. Unless you plan to leave it outside, on the ground for weeks and months, just grab something in your stack and make a sheath. I can't imagine that you are going to leave a steel tool exposed to the extent that even an oiled 2 x 4 would rot. I made a blade guard for my bowsaw out of a stick of cherry and after years of camping and yard work, it looks as good as new. Of course, it is stored out of the weather when not in the field. Anyway, the second one you make should be an upgrade after you figure out where you went wrong on the first one. Great camping weather right now. Enjoy.

[David Eckel]

Thank you, Bill. Overthinking is another of my hobbies ;)