Which Wood is Harder IPE or Mesquite

[Ben Roman]

Hello All, Which wood is harder Mesquite or IPE. I am going to make a tool and would like to get feedback.

[Quinn McCarthy]

Ben

I have no clue. You can check the physical properties of wood at the US Forest Service wood products laboratory at Madison WI. They have all of the information online.

[Mark Rios]

The Janka Scale gives Mesquite a rating of 2345 and it gives Ipe a rating of 3680.

hth

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

Well.............................. Mesquite floats and IPE SINKS in water.

No kidding! IPE DENSE and HARD.

Bruce

[Ken Seiler]

I agree with Bruce. I have worked with both mesquite and Ipe. I used Ipe on a deck and have used some for other projects. It does not float nor will it burn easily.

[Dev Emch]

I would say IPE. Actually the name IPE is a marketing slogan. The actual stuff is called Tababueyae (sp???). And this stuff is hard! True IPE does not float. It also has balls..... the ball test is where you use a calibrated press to force a calibrated steel ball into the wood half way. Then you measure the force. Its like a Rockwell hardness test but its setup for wood. According to the test results, IPE was listed at about 5 or 6 times harder than US Rock maple which is several times harder than US red oak. Nothing known has beat IPE with maybe one exception.... its made by United States Steel (USS) and can be welded!

Also IPE was listed as having extremely good stability as does US Rock maple. There are other woods harder than maple but way less stable meaning this stuff will move about quite a bit.

Lastly IPE is brittle. Like metal, the harder you make the stuff, the less ductile you make the stuff. So although a Rockwell C-75 chisel will last and last and last with a razor edge, it will also flake and fracture during normal use making it less durable than many softer chisels. Same goes with wood. So if your making a work bench for example, IPE has many redeaming features but its not as comfortable than working on rock maple. Rock maple gives you excellent hardness and awsome stability but it also gives you enough plastic deformation behavior to make it more comfortable to use.

Good Luck...