Hola,

Sister wants a potting bench and I'm thinking of going with either Ipe
or Lyptus. I'll probably have to resharpen all my tools if I use Ipe,
so I'm leaning towards lyptus. My plan is to leave either would
unfinished so it can weather to a nice silvery grey.

Right now I'm going to use the plans she found in the Jan/Feb '05 issue
of Backyard Living. It looks pretty simple, which is nice, but I'd
rather build a "good" one in hopes she'll actually use it. If anyone
has a good link I'd appreciate that too.

JP
***********
Plotting for potting.

Jay,
I have used Ipe for a couple of outdoor projects, and with all of the
resin and silicate in it, it will last for years, and turn a nice grey
color. I don't know about the Lyptus. It does have some resin, but not
nearly as much as the Ipe. I don't know how it will weather, but the
indoor pieces that I have made are going from pinkish to red/maroon.
The grain structure in the Lyptus isn't as tight as the Ipe, I guess
because it grows so fast.
robo hippy

"Jay Pique" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hola,

Sister wants a potting bench and I'm thinking of going with either Ipe
or Lyptus. I'll probably have to resharpen all my tools if I use Ipe,
so I'm leaning towards lyptus. My plan is to leave either would
unfinished so it can weather to a nice silvery grey.

Right now I'm going to use the plans she found in the Jan/Feb '05 issue
of Backyard Living. It looks pretty simple, which is nice, but I'd
rather build a "good" one in hopes she'll actually use it. If anyone
has a good link I'd appreciate that too.

JP
***********
Plotting for potting.


I can't address the ipe vs lyptus issue. I did build a potting bench for my
wife last year, modified from
plans in Wood magazine. You can see it he

http://mcquain.cs.vt.edu/Woodworking/PottingBench.jpg

I used cypress for all the exterior pieces. I'll be oiling it this weekend
for the first time. Sitting on our
carport for about a year, it really hasn't weathered much yet. We'll see
whether that holds true in the
longer term, but when I lived in Baton Rouge I saw lots of elderly outdoor
furniture made from
cypress that had silvered and held up nicely.

Anyway, the picture may give you some ideas...

Nice pic, nice project. I'm not sure why I hadn't considered cypress.
I'm guessing it's less expensive than either ipe or lyptus, not to
mention much easier to work with.

JP

I'd never worked with it before... the Wood article used it and it was
available at Steve Wall Lumber (I'm about 2 hrs north of them). It worked
easily. The nice thing was that several pieces had a tiny birds-eye figure
in them, which wasn't visible (to me at least) until I'd planed it. Had
just enough of that for the doors.

"Jay Pique" wrote in message
ups.com...
Nice pic, nice project. I'm not sure why I hadn't considered cypress.
I'm guessing it's less expensive than either ipe or lyptus, not to
mention much easier to work with.

JP

"robo hippy" schreef in
I have used Ipe for a couple of outdoor projects, and with all of the
resin and silicate in it,

***
ipê has neither resin nor silica
* * *

it will last for years, and turn a nice grey
color. I don't know about the Lyptus. It does have some resin, but not
nearly as much as the Ipe.

***
Well, "not nearly as much as" none at all cannot be all that much?
* * *

I don't know how it will weather, but the
indoor pieces that I have made are going from pinkish to red/maroon.
The grain structure in the Lyptus isn't as tight as the Ipe, I guess
because it grows so fast.
robo hippy

If you take a piece of ipe and lay it out in the sun, it glitters. That
is because of the silica. This also causes dulling of the cutters that
you use. Ir you rip a board on the table saw with a zero clearance
insert, there will be a pile of greasy oily resin / pitch / oil on the
front side of the insert. This is also the reason that you should use
acetone on the wood to remove oils and resins before gluing.The lyptus
is a cross of 2 different eucalyptus trees. They are known to have
resins, and oils in them. High speed cutting and sanding will cause
these oils to burn.
robo hippy