Ever Hear Of IPE?

SC sawdaddy

Just came from doing a quote on a beaded board ceiling and couldn't help but notice the floor on the porch. It looked like a mahogany t&g. Beautiful wood with no stain or sealer. H/O says they installed it themselves. Its a Brazilian Walnut from a company in NY called IPT. I couldn't find anything on Google. H/O says there is no need for sealer its too dense to worry about water damage.
On a tongue and groove floor???

Its a covered porch, sure but there will be rain blowing in and moisture getting to the raw boards. I'm sure they paid a pretty penny for it, I'd hate to see it all buckled up because some suit behind the desk in the sales dept. doesn't think will.

If it were my porch I think I'd rub it down with tongue oil or something just to bring out the grain, even if it did have a natural water resistency.

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JK Floors

I had a friend up here in Pennsyslvania who got a job building a deck in Florida using the same wood. It was a high end job. He was pre-fabricating the rails up here to drive them down to the job site. Apparently the stuff holds up to weather very well. I don't think you need to cover it up.

neolitic

http://www.google.com/search?q=ipe+d...ient=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=ipe+w...ient=firefox-a

If you search here there is
a great deal of info and discussion too.
Since three letter searches are problematic,
try this....

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Cdat

Ipe is the shat! Good stuff.

Leo G

Hard as hell, heavy as hell, splinters, splits, dull tools and you need to predrill and its dusty when you cut it. Good for decks.

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Custom Cabinets in Hartford County Connecticut

Splinter

I was first introduced to it when NY State built a boardwalk with it at a local state park about 10 years ago. I first used it in 2003 on a front porch, and now build a few Ipe decks every year. I'm not a dedicated deck builder like some guys here, I dont do composite, or PT, and I only have a few cedar decks in my portfolio. Working with Ipe feels like furniture building.... It's a tough material to machine, but the finished project sure is worth it.... I just finished a 2-level Ipe deck last month trimmed with Azek, and Dekorators metal ballusters on an Ipe handrail.

Here's a porch floor with some wildly varying colors in it.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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- Alex

Long Island Remodeling Contractor

Splinter

Leo- Try dovetailing it!

I made 2 dozen planters for a landscape designer... He placed them on Manhattan rooftop gardens. I'll try to find a picture.. Imagine 2 long skinny drawer boxes dovetailed front and back stacked one on top of the other. Wore a respirator while making those in the shop....

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- Alex

Long Island Remodeling Contractor

Leo G

I can imagine. I frequently dovetail 9 ply plywood and it is a lot of hard resin glues. Beats the crap out of my dovetail bits. I have actually broken a new bit before finishing one drawer box. I imagine it is like this.

How is the smell, I have never used it but have heard from a lot of guys who do. But I never asked how it smells. I just recently used Walnut for the first time and it wasn't a nice smell. Not bad or anything, just not nice. Now Cherry smells great when you mill it and Spanish Cedar is among my least favorite because of the foul smell and taste it leaves behind.

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http://lrgwood.com
Custom Cabinets in Hartford County Connecticut

Splinter

I never really noticed much of a foul smell out of it... It does put a very fine yellowy dust into the air when you cut it, so it'll make you sneeze.

The splinters are the worst. I can't explain why even the smallest Ipe splinter hurts like a SOB. They're worse than the tiny metal drywall screw splinters.

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Long Island Remodeling Contractor

astor

what the heck is that? on no!!http://www.messmers.com/

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Floordude

Ipe [Iapacho] (Tabebuia ipe)

Types of reactions:
1) Respiratory: E.g. asthma, rhinitis, mucosal inflamation
2) Skin and Eye: Contact dermatis (excema), conjunctivitis (itchy,
watery, red eye), pruritis (itch) and other rashes


Don't breath too much dust. You will be laid up thinking your nose and throat are being ripped out, they will be so dry and raw.


Do a google for "toxic woods species"

You will be very surprised.

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Cdat

Speaking of smelly wood, try zebrawood. Worst smelling wood when cut.

floorinstall

I just finished sanding and sealing 2200 sqft of ipe dock. It sets in the sun on the Florida coast and after two years it looked like any Grey dried pt deck. After sanding, starting with 12 1/2 grit to 100 grit, I applied two coats of WATCO teak oil finish and two coats of spar urethane. The wood came right back to life. I strongly advise some type of sealer on exposed decks.

lavrans

I dunno- I'd put Peroba Rosa in that category. Not only smells bad, but tastes horrible. I thought, ah, what the heck, just a couple minutes of sanding, I don't want to find the respirator. Within a minute I had a nosebleed.

That can happen with Ipe & Teak, also- the silica will literally cut through the tissues in your nose & throat, imagine what happens in the lungs.