ipe ironwood

[chip white]

Hi. anyone ever try to tongue & groove ipe ironwood and put down as flooring.how does the router or dado handle this stuff.thanks

[Jim Becker]

Ipe mills nicely, but is hard, hard, hard. You need sharp carbide tooling. Personally, I'd not mill my own unless it was a very limited quantity...that's a lot of hard work!

[Von Bickley]

The hardwood flooring business "Lumber Liquidators" sell IPE hardwood flooring. I personally did not like the colors of the flooring, but that was just my opinion. IPE flooring is available.

[Jeff Duncan]

I've milled a little of it and it's hard as nails on tools. You'll very likely burn up at least one set of cutters if your doing any quantity. And if your tooling isn't razor sharp the stuff can create some of the nastiest splinters I've ever gotten. Oh and the dust is much nastier than your average hardwood, you'll definitely want a respirator in addition to your dust collection.
have fun,
JeffD

Oh almost forgot, it weighs more than just about any other wood I've worked with, if you don't have one, you may also want to get a back brace.

[chip white]

thanks guy's.The material is being refinished from an existing deck.it has a very little cup so I am goin to try to take the cup out and groove it so it looks like a hardwood floor under the new roof and screen enclosure I just built.I guess I needed a little info thank's again. "think snow"

[Steve Rayboy]

I agree with Jim. Ipe mills well, but you need sharp blades/bits. Ipe also produces a cloud of nasty dust. I have built over a hundred Ipe decks, and the Ipe that is available for decking is unsuitable for milling into flooring. It's frequently bowed, occasionally cupped, and badly milled. It's not well planed, and usually, the width of one end of a board will be 1/16" different from the other end. So milling that stock into T & G would be a nightmare. I have seen some pieces of the Lumber Liquidator T & G, and it's real nice. Short pieces, but nice. Keep in mind that Ipe differs greatly in color and grain pattern. When you build a floor out of short pieces, it's gonna be psychedelic. It isn't as noticable on a deck, as the color fades quickly, and I use longer lengths. So, use Ipe if you want an interesting floor, but don't mill it yourself.

[Ray DuBose]

I'll echo some of the comments of others. I found it to plane and mill nicely.

It is vicious with the splinters until you get a finish on it. I had to pre-drill all my screw holes in it if not I would break off the screw (I was using stainless steel square head screws which are softer but I would probably pre-drill regardless with this stuff). It's HEAVY! handling a long board of this stuff is all sorts of fun. Ohh.. and Sanding is nasty as well.. wear a respirator.

I built a table for a Big Green Egg with it and used some 2x4's that were already cut for decking and some S2S I got from a different local wood store. The 2x4's were straight the decking boards they sold there were not that's why I went to another location for the S2S.

Everyone I talked to about finishing it said to use Penofin Exotic Hardwood Ext Stain if you are going to put it outside.

The Peice looks great and will be around longer than me even outdoors.
My Kid thinks that freshly cut ipe smells like bacon so she calls it Bacon Wood.

Ray

[Von Bickley]

Ipe is very heavy and very hard.....

For those that have not worked with ipe, I got the following info off of the net....
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Working Properties: Ipe lumber can be somewhat difficult to work with, especially with hand tools. Can have quite a blunting effect on cutting edges. Recommended that you use a reduced cutting angle, keep edges sharp, and always predrill for nails or screws. Have numerous extra drill bits handy. Ipe planks do not bend well, but the wood finishes and sands quite smoothly, with no splintering.


Toxicity: Ipe boards can have a fine yellow dust on the surface that may cause dermatitis in some individuals that have skin sensitivities and/or cause allergic reactions in those who breathe it in... so wearing a dust mask is recommended. Ipe hardwood is an amazing wood but no sense in risking your health!

Durability: Heartwood is very resistant to attack by decay fungi and termites, but not resistant to marine borers, it has the durability and strength of teak, for a lot less money.The US Department of Agriculture and Forestry rates Ipé as "Very resistant to attack by decay, fungi and termites."

Fire Rating: a Class A fire rating, the same rating given to concrete & steel.

[Ray DuBose]

Ipe is very heavy and very hard.....

Fire Rating: a Class A fire rating, the same rating given to concrete & steel.

Haha, The man who owns one of the local wood stores here had a deck made of Ipe. Apparently in the last couple of years his house caught on fire and the only thing to survive was the Ipe Deck. Apparently they just sanded the scorch marks off it and built a new house in front of it.

Ray

[chip white]

ya the first time I stained the deck with penofin my wife and i threw the oil soaked rags in the trash can in the garage.the next mornin woke to a strong smell of smoke in the garage area.found out it was the rags.make mental note read all directions and pay attention in shop class when they talk about how to properly dispose of oil soaked rags

[Wayne Cannon]

I milled Ipe 2x6's into deck railings -- sloped tops and dadoed bottom -- with no problem, but would hesitate to mill enough tongues for a floor.

Ipe mills nicely -- saw, router, plane, drill, etc. -- albeit dusty. It is very hard, dense (about 15 times as dense as oak, if I remember correctly), and heavy. It dulls blades/bits quickly. Small drill bits, such as you would use to countersink screws, should be replaced or sharpened frequently -- they'll snap off quickly once they become just a little bit dull. My oak decking was straight, flat, and uniformly sized -- very much so on all counts -- so the supplier may be a factor.

Caution: The term "Ipe" can refer to a half-dozen species, and "Ironwood" to an even broader number of species.