The Wife asked me to make a welcome mat for our front door that was based on something she saw in a home catalog a while back. During a visit to a local hardwood dealer (Vienna Hardwoods) I found some surplus 3/4" x 2" Ipe slats. There were about a dozen of them, all about 4 feet long - they were undoubtedly left over from some past project and just thrown onto the "random pile" in the yard. They turned out to be perfect for this job, and quite inexpensive.
I got home and laid out a plan for a mat that would be 28" wide by 18" deep - using seven horizontal slats and four vertical slats. I constructed the mat using half-lap dados, all cut by hand (backsaw, chisel and router plane). I ended up regretting this decision because Ipe is *really* tough stuff - I had to resharpen several times during the project. Anyway, I glued up the pieces using a little West Systems epoxy and locked them together with short bronze boat screws. I didn't put any finish on the Ipe because I wanted it to weather naturally.
The wife was pleased!
TedP
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