Ipe versus Lyptus for Potting Bench

[Jay Pique]

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.

[robo hippy]

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

[William D McQuain]

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 here:

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...

[Jay Pique]

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

[William D McQuain]

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.

[P van Rijckevorsel]

"robo hippy" schreef in

*** ipê has neither resin nor silica

• * *

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

• * *

[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