"edangell" edangellatcomcastdotnet wrote in message
. ..

"Wade Lippman" wrote in message
...
My wife bought a lobster trap at a garage sale and wants me to make an
Ipe top for it. (She also wants me to rebuild our deck, but wants to see
what ipe is like before she lets me use it; a table top seemed a good
trial.)

Wade,
I would encourage you to rethink the use of Ipe. I spent a ton of money
and time to build a beautiful table and benches for my deck using Ipe, and
it looks like crap. Ipe is so dense that it will not take any finish that
will last for more than a few months.. Even when left to go silvery, the
Ipe gets small hair like splinters that are terrible to deal with. One
of my local lumber yards stopped carrying it because of so many
complaints. Send me your email address and I'll send pictures of the
disaster.

Ed Angell


Interesting to know. I have built 6 different Ipe out door projects in the
last 6 years and none of them have splintered at all. I have however not
applied any type of finish to any of them. Perhaps the finish is causing
the grain to raise a bit in your case.