I friend on mine has a wrought iron park bench he wants me to cut some wood
for.
The question has come up, "Which wood?".
Anteing semi-exotic is out of the question. Something readily available at
the local yard. We kind of through in the towel and my just use clear pine,
with a good penetrating fence/deck seal. I though maybe white oak, but I am
not sure if I can find any. Ipe is out of the question as nobody around here
has it, and I don't want to ship some in, or work with it either.
Greg

"Greg O" wrote in message

I though maybe white oak, but I am not sure if I can find any.

Try to ... it's probably your best bet unless you can find redwood, teak or
cypress more easily.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 6/21/06

Greg O wrote:
I friend on mine has a wrought iron park bench he wants me to cut
some wood
for.
The question has come up, "Which wood?".
snip

RUN, don't walk away from this one.

The difference in thermal expansion between metal and wood can be as
high as 1 mm/12".

No matter what you do, it will come back to bite you.

Lew

"CW" wrote in message
You mean the hundreds of wrought iron benches with wooden seats/backs all
over the world don't work? Learn something every day.

Hundreds of thousands ... there's over a hundred in this neighborhood alone.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 6/21/06

"Greg O" wrote in message
...
I friend on mine has a wrought iron park bench he wants me to cut some wood
for.
The question has come up, "Which wood?".
Anteing semi-exotic is out of the question. Something readily available at
the local yard. We kind of through in the towel and my just use clear
pine, with a good penetrating fence/deck seal. I though maybe white oak,
but I am not sure if I can find any. Ipe is out of the question as nobody
around here has it, and I don't want to ship some in, or work with it
either.
Greg


I did this for a customer about 6 years ago. I used Ipe. The benches are
still in great shape and I suspect they will be with no splinters for
another 45 years with no protection.

"Leon" wrote in message
om...



I did this for a customer about 6 years ago. I used Ipe. The benches are
still in great shape and I suspect they will be with no splinters for
another 45 years with no protection.


BTY Ipe is readily available at most any lumber yard that sells quality
decking.

On Sun, 9 Jul 2006 21:05:51 -0500, "Greg O" wrote:

I friend on mine has a wrought iron park bench he wants me to cut some wood
for.
The question has come up, "Which wood?".
Anteing semi-exotic is out of the question. Something readily available at
the local yard. We kind of through in the towel and my just use clear pine,
with a good penetrating fence/deck seal. I though maybe white oak, but I am
not sure if I can find any. Ipe is out of the question as nobody around here
has it, and I don't want to ship some in, or work with it either.
Greg

Assuming that the existing wood slats need replacing, I've BTDT... and never
will again...

You have to use hardwood.. pine will NOT handle the load unless it's too thick
to use on the bench... I wasted a lot of time and money finding out that it's a
LOT cheaper and easier to pay $30 or so for a new one....
Mac

https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis
https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis/wood_stuff.htm

"Greg O" wrote in message
...
I friend on mine has a wrought iron park bench he wants me to cut some wood
for.
The question has come up, "Which wood?".
Anteing semi-exotic is out of the question. Something readily available at
the local yard. We kind of through in the towel and my just use clear
pine, with a good penetrating fence/deck seal. I though maybe white oak,
but I am not sure if I can find any. Ipe is out of the question as nobody
around here has it, and I don't want to ship some in, or work with it
either.
Greg


I just used fir 2by4's ripped and planed to size, painted white, of which
looked reasonably good with the sandblasted painted black old cast iron
ends. I rabbeted the board ends to fit the groves on the cast iron so I
could fit thicker material than the original oak or oak wannabe....plenty
strong and still holding 2 years later. Rod

Greg O wrote:
I friend on mine has a wrought iron park bench he wants me to cut some wood
for.
The question has come up, "Which wood?".
Anteing semi-exotic is out of the question. Something readily available at
the local yard.

It would help to know where your local yard is located.

In Southern CA Doug Fir would be fine. In Washington Western
Red Cedar, in the Southeast cypress, in Pennsylvania black
walnut, in Texas Bodark, in Panama Mahogany, in Thailand teak.

--

FF

"Greg O" wrote in message
...
I friend on mine has a wrought iron park bench he wants me to cut some wood
for.
The question has come up, "Which wood?".
Anteing semi-exotic is out of the question. Something readily available at
the local yard.

The others adequately addressed the "which species" question. What I suspect
the OP really needs to know (although he didn't ask it) is where?, rather
than what?

"the local yard" is the wrong answer. Look up "hardwood" in your yellow
pages. Regular lumber yards generally don't carry much beyond SPF
(spruce/pine /fir).

-Steve

"Stephen M" wrote in message
...

"the local yard" is the wrong answer. Look up "hardwood" in your yellow
pages. Regular lumber yards generally don't carry much beyond SPF
(spruce/pine /fir).

Most lumber yards carry Ipe Decking.

On Sun, 9 Jul 2006 21:05:51 -0500, "Greg O"
wrote:

I friend on mine has a wrought iron park bench he wants me to cut some wood
for.
The question has come up, "Which wood?".

My favourites (UK) for outside work would be larch or sweet chestnut.
Larch is tougher and cheaper, if there's any risk of vandalism in a
public space - chestnut is a bit fragile.

There are several other cedars and cypresses worth looking at, depending
on local supply. Assuming that the work here is to provide simpel
rectangular laths and round the edges a bit, then it's not necessary to
go with exotics - just replace them every decade or two.