I’m making some outdoor deck chairs. I’ve narrowed the selection to mahogony, white oak and teak. White oak and mahogony are similar in cost and teak is nearly twice the price. I’d like something that won’t require a lot of maintenance and will likely finish with an oil, rather than paint.
I’d appreciate your thoughts on using mahogony or white oak. How well do you think they’d weather? Is one any better than the other?
For the price of the teak wood, it’d be cheaper to buy the chairs instead of make them, sad to say.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Replies
To add to your consideration, I did some garden benches in spanish cedar, which I elected to not oil. However, I did oil a scrap, (varnish oil mix) and put it outside at the same time, and it has held the color of the wood rather nicely. The benches, out since early spring, are now a bit gray. The wood was pretty easy to work. It is not terribly hard. The smell when machined, even with DC, was a bit obnoxious. Mostly the finish was hand planed, except on the curved surfaces and where there was overly swirly grain. Used West Epoxy, which is a pleasure.
I did some work two years ago in Italian cedar. The odor which is nice in small quantities, in a closed shop, in winter is about enough to knock you out by the end of a work day. for about a year after that I couldn't stand the smell of cedar.
Philip
I don't know what the maintenance requirements are for mahogany when used outside, but something to check out.
Teak, despite it cost, is a great choice as you never have to do anything to the furniture and can leave it exposed 365 days a year.
Cypress would be another option to consider.
Ken,
Mahogony, teak, cedar & cypress all have natural decay resistance that I believe is not a characteristic of white oak. I don't believe the white oak would give you the life that you hope for. Teak, of course, is the wood of choice for trim exposed to the elements on boats, but as you suggested, it's expensive. I don't have much personal experience with mahogony, however I do see lots of exterior doors and windows being manufactured from it. Mahogony is also expensive. I live in the deep south where moisture and wood decay are part of our everyday experience. For exterior furniture here, it's a no brainer - cypress - but select cypress only. And I don't mean "select" as a grade, but rather that you select your pieces carefully. Lots of second growth cypress will rot in a heartbeat, but lots will last well into the next generation, and some beyond. You have to judge the merits of each piece. Indicators of rot resistance in cypress are it's tightness of grain, oil content, color, and wieght. Heartwood is better that sapwood. Have you considered weathered barn wood, who's rot resistance (if it was exposed to the elements) has already been proven? This is an easy way to judge the suitability of a piece of wood for your intended use.
John Gaiennie
Baton Rouge, La.
Great ideas everyone. I've looked some more at availability and cost. I can get cypress locally, for about 3/4 the cost of white oak/mahogany.
Another suggestion was to use ipe. It's about the same cost as white oak/mahogany, maybe a little less. Any experience with it? OBTW, it is all finished 1" boards, so I'll have to glue up the thicker pieces. I presume that poly glues will work well. I've seen some other posts on the board about that subject.
Ipe is a good choice, I used it for a deck and railing. It will glue up with poly glue fine. It's very tough on tooling, invest in good router bits and sharpen your knives. Finish with Penofin for a beautiful rosewood-like finish.
Ken
I'm not aware of where you live but if ipe is available to you it is excellent for exterior use and not all that expensive. Yes, it's called "ipe", like Epay. Kind of oily.....Nope, rather oily but requires no finish and machines very very well. Just a thought if it is available in your area. If you plan on moving the furniture inside for storage in the bad weather the oak should suit your needs. I would recommend Quarter Sawn however. Initial cost will be more but will eliminate some nasty unwanted movement you may get with plain sawn.
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