I want to make some outdoor benches what would be the best wood and
preservative to use . We get a lot of rain , long cold winters.

Sal

"sal" wrote in message ...

I want to make some outdoor benches what would be the best wood and
preservative to use . We get a lot of rain , long cold winters.

Sal

=======

Tropical hardwoods without any coating on them.

--

Eric

White OAK resists insects and can handle the weather.

Cedar, and redwood (not easily available on the East Coast here).


On 6/11/2012 12:55 PM, Eric wrote:


"sal" wrote in message ...
I want to make some outdoor benches what would be the best wood and
preservative to use . We get a lot of rain , long cold winters.

Sal
=======

Tropical hardwoods without any coating on them.

--

Eric

On Mon, 11 Jun 2012 11:32:35 -0500, sal wrote:

I want to make some outdoor benches what would be the best wood and
preservative to use . We get a lot of rain , long cold winters.

Sal

Cedar, teak, or cypress. Cedar is a little too soft, and teak is a lot
too expensive. That leaves cypress as the only easily found (AFAIK)
choice.

No finish holds up to UV from the sun or to repeated wet/dry cycles. The
best advice I can give is a couple of coats of SealCoat (more on end
grain) followed an outdoor UV-resistant varnish.

It would help if you sealed the end grain at the bottom of the legs with
epoxy, or metal booties, or something similar. Anything that keeps them
away from moisture.

Good luck.

--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw

Larry Blanchard wrote:
On Mon, 11 Jun 2012 11:32:35 -0500, sal wrote:

I want to make some outdoor benches what would be the best wood and
preservative to use . We get a lot of rain , long cold winters.

Sal

Cedar, teak, or cypress. Cedar is a little too soft, and teak is a
lot too expensive. That leaves cypress as the only easily found
(AFAIK) choice.

No finish holds up to UV from the sun or to repeated wet/dry cycles.
The best advice I can give is a couple of coats of SealCoat (more on
end grain) followed an outdoor UV-resistant varnish.

It would help if you sealed the end grain at the bottom of the legs
with epoxy, or metal booties, or something similar. Anything that
keeps them away from moisture.

Good luck.

Bull! Pine, I say! About the time you start getting tired of the look, the
wood will be rotting away. Nature's harmony between man and materials!

--

-Mike-

On 6/11/2012 11:32 AM, sal wrote:
I want to make some outdoor benches what would be the best wood and
preservative to use . We get a lot of rain , long cold winters.

Sal



Ipe is a hard wood, an iron wood actually. Commonly use for decking.
No need to ever treat or use a preservative at all as it has a 50 year
life expectancy as is.

http://www.woodsthebest.com/ipe_decking/ipe-wood.htm

sal wrote:
I want to make some outdoor benches what would be the best wood and
preservative to use . We get a lot of rain , long cold winters.

Sal

I second the ipe. Barring that, pressure treated...whatever species is used
in your area. Let it dry for a couple of months then paint it.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Maybe just ready for a change? .Check it out...
http://www.dadioh.net

On 6/11/2012 11:32 AM, sal wrote:
I want to make some outdoor benches what would be the best wood and
preservative to use . We get a lot of rain , long cold winters.

Probably the place for the Trex or similar if intending to leave
outdoors year-round.

--

"sal" wrote in :

I want to make some outdoor benches what would be the best wood and
preservative to use . We get a lot of rain , long cold winters.

Sal

I am seconding cedar. I'm in New Jersey, and 6 years ago I built some
simple wooden benches with cedar bought from Kuiken Brothers. No finishing
whasoever, and they just stayed outside all year round. Picture to follow.


--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

Han wrote in
:

"sal" wrote in :

I want to make some outdoor benches what would be the best wood and
preservative to use . We get a lot of rain , long cold winters.

Sal

I am seconding cedar. I'm in New Jersey, and 6 years ago I built some
simple wooden benches with cedar bought from Kuiken Brothers. No
finishing whasoever, and they just stayed outside all year round.
Picture to follow.

I hope this shows. Can dig up the plan if anyone wishes.
http://www.flickr.com/x/t/0098009/ph...N04/7177354451

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

"sal" wrote:

I want to make some outdoor benches what would be the best wood and
preservative to use . We get a lot of rain , long cold winters.

----------------------------
Cut to the chase.

http://tinyurl.com/y976voo

Lew

On Mon, 11 Jun 2012 12:55:03 -0400, "Eric"
wrote:



"sal" wrote in message ...

I want to make some outdoor benches what would be the best wood and
preservative to use . We get a lot of rain , long cold winters.

Sal

=======

Tropical hardwoods without any coating on them.

Precast air entrained, fiber re-enforced concrete.

On Mon, 11 Jun 2012 17:03:50 +0000 (UTC), Larry Blanchard
wrote:

On Mon, 11 Jun 2012 11:32:35 -0500, sal wrote:

I want to make some outdoor benches what would be the best wood and
preservative to use . We get a lot of rain , long cold winters.

Sal

Cedar, teak, or cypress. Cedar is a little too soft, and teak is a lot
too expensive. That leaves cypress as the only easily found (AFAIK)
choice.

No finish holds up to UV from the sun or to repeated wet/dry cycles. The
best advice I can give is a couple of coats of SealCoat (more on end
grain) followed an outdoor UV-resistant varnish.

It would help if you sealed the end grain at the bottom of the legs with
epoxy, or metal booties, or something similar. Anything that keeps them
away from moisture.

Good luck.
Acacia works great too, if you can get it.

Thanks for the input Guys,I do search the internet , but depend on the Pro's
like you.

Sal
"sal" wrote in message
...
I want to make some outdoor benches what would be the best wood and
preservative to use . We get a lot of rain , long cold winters.

Sal

On 11 Jun 2012 18:37:48 GMT, Han wrote:
I am seconding cedar. I'm in New Jersey, and 6 years ago I built some
simple wooden benches with cedar bought from Kuiken Brothers. No finishing
whasoever, and they just stayed outside all year round. Picture to follow.

+2

I build a large cedar garden table for a friend about five years ago.
It lives outside and has been experiencing (Toronto, Ontario) winters.
She chose not to have it finished in any way. Aside from turning a
light gray colour, it's still as solid as when I built it.

On 6/11/2012 7:31 PM, Dave wrote:
On 11 Jun 2012 18:37:48 GMT, Han wrote:
I am seconding cedar. I'm in New Jersey, and 6 years ago I built some
simple wooden benches with cedar bought from Kuiken Brothers. No finishing
whasoever, and they just stayed outside all year round. Picture to follow.

+2

I build a large cedar garden table for a friend about five years ago.
It lives outside and has been experiencing (Toronto, Ontario) winters.
She chose not to have it finished in any way. Aside from turning a
light gray colour, it's still as solid as when I built it.

Hell, I can top that.

I built a "worm box" for a friend out or Western red cedar some 20 years
ago. When I helped her move it a couple of years back, I expected it to
fall apart because it had been filled with dirt and compost for nigh on
18 years ... nay, it was still as solid as the day it was built,
including the bottom.

--
www.eWoodShop.com
Last update: 4/15/2010
KarlCaillouet@ (the obvious)
http://gplus.to/eWoodShop

On 6/11/2012 8:38 PM, Swingman wrote:
On 6/11/2012 7:31 PM, Dave wrote:
On 11 Jun 2012 18:37:48 GMT, Han wrote:
I am seconding cedar. I'm in New Jersey, and 6 years ago I built some
simple wooden benches with cedar bought from Kuiken Brothers. No
finishing
whasoever, and they just stayed outside all year round. Picture to
follow.

+2

I build a large cedar garden table for a friend about five years ago.
It lives outside and has been experiencing (Toronto, Ontario) winters.
She chose not to have it finished in any way. Aside from turning a
light gray colour, it's still as solid as when I built it.

Hell, I can top that.
Or maybe not top it but bottome it... :-0

I built a "worm box" for a friend out or Western red cedar some 20 years
ago. When I helped her move it a couple of years back, I expected it to
fall apart because it had been filled with dirt and compost for nigh on
18 years ... nay, it was still as solid as the day it was built,
including the bottom.

On Mon, 11 Jun 2012 19:38:09 -0500, Swingman wrote:

On 6/11/2012 7:31 PM, Dave wrote:
On 11 Jun 2012 18:37:48 GMT, Han wrote:
I am seconding cedar. I'm in New Jersey, and 6 years ago I built some
simple wooden benches with cedar bought from Kuiken Brothers. No finishing
whasoever, and they just stayed outside all year round. Picture to follow.

+2

I build a large cedar garden table for a friend about five years ago.
It lives outside and has been experiencing (Toronto, Ontario) winters.
She chose not to have it finished in any way. Aside from turning a
light gray colour, it's still as solid as when I built it.

Hell, I can top that.

I built a "worm box" for a friend out or Western red cedar some 20 years
ago. When I helped her move it a couple of years back, I expected it to
fall apart because it had been filled with dirt and compost for nigh on
18 years ... nay, it was still as solid as the day it was built,
including the bottom.
Back when I was a kid we had a "lawn swing"made with white oak posts
and western red cedar slats on the seats and floor. It stood up to at
least 12 years of heavy use and ontario weather - don't know how long
it lasted after I left town.

On Mon, 11 Jun 2012 19:38:09 -0500, Swingman wrote:
I built a "worm box" for a friend out or Western red cedar some 20 years
ago. When I helped her move it a couple of years back, I expected it to
fall apart because it had been filled with dirt and compost for nigh on
18 years ... nay, it was still as solid as the day it was built,
including the bottom.

Yabut, I read somewhere, may even have been here on the rec, that worm
**** has a petrifying effect on western red cedar.

On 6/11/2012 1:17 PM, Mike Marlow wrote:
Larry Blanchard wrote:
On Mon, 11 Jun 2012 11:32:35 -0500, sal wrote:

I want to make some outdoor benches what would be the best wood and
preservative to use . We get a lot of rain , long cold winters.

No finish holds up to UV from the sun or to repeated wet/dry cycles.
The best advice I can give is a couple of coats of SealCoat (more on
end grain) followed an outdoor UV-resistant varnish.

Bull! Pine, I say! About the time you start getting tired of the look, the
wood will be rotting away. Nature's harmony between man and materials!

I second that. I've been using cheap ass pine for outdoor furniture for
30+ years. Use stainless hardware because the wood will outlast regular
steel by years. If the furniture will have ground contact, (not on a
deck) use wolmanized for any parts in contact with dirt. Never paint
outdoor stuff, it will promote rot when moisture gets under the paint
and never dries out, plus, refinishing sucks, and generally easier to
burn it than try to refinish painted furniture. Use stain, like deck
stain or house stain, it resists chipping and blistering, and is easy to
refinish.

Here is a picture of 2 chairs and a bench I made out of pine
construction grade lumber (50 cent pile at home depot.)

http://jbstein.com/Flick/P1040481.jpg

The chair on right and bench I made recently, the chair on the left I
made at least 35 years ago out of construction grade pine (white wood
today) The bench is stained with house stain. The 35 year old chair has
NEVER been inside, lives out doors in Pgh winters 24/7/365 and is still
in relatively good shape. I think I restained it 2x's, but hard to say
after 35 years, could have been 3x's.

Here's an Adirondack chair my daughter wanted. You should be able to
see the legs are womanized.

http://jbstein.com/Flick/P1050155.jpg

Here it is in stained with house stain and in use.

http://jbstein.com/Flick/AderondakChair.jpg

The real key to outdoor stuff is for the wood to dry out quickly after
rain. Where two pieces meet is a potential problem area, and anywhere
fasteners are exposed, particularly on horizontal surfaces, like an arm,
water can pool and rot the wood. Try to not use screws on arm tops, use
pocket screws from underneath, and water will not pool around the
screws. Any knots on horizontal surfaces I fill with a mixture of
sawdust and outdoor glue, to prevent water from sticking around too
long. Ground contact (dirt) requires wolmanized wood. On the other
hand, the 35 year old chair ignored most all of this advice and odds are
good it will outlast me.


--
Jack
Add Life to your Days not Days to your Life.
http://jbstein.com

Jack wrote:


Here's an Adirondack chair my daughter wanted. You should be able to
see the legs are womanized.


Nice work. That is the best kind of legs.
--
G.W. Ross

If money could talk, it would say goodbye.

Jack wrote:

Never paint outdoor stuff, it will promote rot when moisture gets
under the paint and never dries out, plus, refinishing sucks, and
generally easier to burn it than try to refinish painted furniture. Use
stain, like deck stain or house stain, it resists chipping and
blistering, and is easy to refinish.

Vigorous second from this corner!


Here's an Adirondack chair my daughter wanted. You should be able to
see the legs are womanized.

Womanized legs are the best of the best. Screw all the rest - so to
speak... (Stainless of course...)


The real key to outdoor stuff is for the wood to dry out quickly after
rain. Where two pieces meet is a potential problem area, and anywhere
fasteners are exposed, particularly on horizontal surfaces, like an
arm, water can pool and rot the wood. Try to not use screws on arm
tops, use pocket screws from underneath, and water will not pool
around the screws. Any knots on horizontal surfaces I fill with a
mixture of sawdust and outdoor glue, to prevent water from sticking
around too long. Ground contact (dirt) requires wolmanized wood. On
the other hand, the 35 year old chair ignored most all of this advice
and odds are good it will outlast me.

Good for you Jack. These are principles that have survived time - even
before pressure treating came on the scene. I too have stuff that I built
almost 30 years ago, and which simply sits outside all year long, and is
still serviceable to this day. Like you, I use treated wood for ground
contact, and cheap ass pine for other areas. I'm not looking for stuff that
will last 300 years. If I was, I would use the same pressure treated
materials that the artisans of the 16th century used...

I have used plenty of non-treated pine for ground contact, and over time,
I've had to replace sections. Never considered that to be such a big
issue - it was expected. Once every 10 years or whatever, is not so
demanding of me to find it objectionable.

--

-Mike-

On 6/12/2012 10:11 AM, G.W. Ross wrote:
Jack wrote:

Here's an Adirondack chair my daughter wanted. You should be able to
see the legs are womanized.

Nice work. That is the best kind of legs.

Yes, unless you have sawdust between your ears:-)

--
Jack
Add Life to your Days not Days to your Life.
http://jbstein.com

On 6/11/2012 11:37 AM, Han wrote:
wrote in :

I want to make some outdoor benches what would be the best wood and
preservative to use . We get a lot of rain , long cold winters.

Sal

I am seconding cedar. I'm in New Jersey, and 6 years ago I built some
simple wooden benches with cedar bought from Kuiken Brothers. No finishing
whasoever, and they just stayed outside all year round. Picture to follow.


That does not appear to be any cedar I'm familiar with(eastern red) or
any of the west coast cedars but it does look like "spanish cedar",
which is neither spanish or cedar.

Pat Barber wrote in
:

On 6/11/2012 11:37 AM, Han wrote:
wrote in :

I want to make some outdoor benches what would be the best wood
and preservative to use . We get a lot of rain , long cold winters.

Sal

I am seconding cedar. I'm in New Jersey, and 6 years ago I built
some simple wooden benches with cedar bought from Kuiken Brothers.
No finishing whasoever, and they just stayed outside all year round.
Picture to follow.


That does not appear to be any cedar I'm familiar with(eastern red) or
any of the west coast cedars but it does look like "spanish cedar",
which is neither spanish or cedar.

It must be the weathering that makes you think so. The wood had a
typical cedar smell when cut. Also, Kuiken Brothers is a very reputable
firm around here, and they sold the wood as cedar. If you're near, come
by and I'll let you smell a cutoff.

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

On Thu, 14 Jun 2012 08:31:33 -0700, Pat Barber wrote:

That does not appear to be any cedar I'm familiar with(eastern red) or
any of the west coast cedars but it does look like "spanish cedar",
which is neither spanish or cedar.

But it's cedrela, which is close :-). A friend built and Adirondack
chair out of spanish cedar and it was beautiful. So much so that I
resawed some down to 1/4" and used it for the soundboard of a hammered
dulcimer. Gorgeous!

And it does appear to be a little harder than real cedar. And is also
same rot resistant. Seems like it would be a good choice for outdoor
furniture, but it's a little more expensive and a little harder to find
than some of the other suggestions here.

--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw

On 6/14/2012 8:50 AM, Han wrote:

It must be the weathering that makes you think so. The wood had a
typical cedar smell when cut. Also, Kuiken Brothers is a very reputable
firm around here, and they sold the wood as cedar. If you're near, come
by and I'll let you smell a cutoff.


Yep...it looks too smooth for any cedars I am used to. You are probably
right about the weather effect. I am always looking for the next outdoor
material.