My ‘wood guy’ has some beautiful Paduk and I was wondering if it would be a good choice for building an exterior door? I live in the west side of Washington state, where it’s known to rain occasionally. Or is it sunny occasionally, I get confused?! Anyone know the characteristics of Paduk and know if it would work for that application?
Thanks.
Jeff
Replies
understand that the red color of Paduak wil turn to a far less lively, root-beer brown in a couple of years.
Paduak takes an oil finish well, so if you seal it and finish it well for exterior use, it could work. It isn't as natually protected as something like cypress, so you might consider an epoxy based sealer, then several coats of spar varnish.
Notwithstanding the initial beauty of Padauk it is best kept in a darkened room, and as advised will still turn a muddy brown in my experience. The timber is very interlocked in grain, needing good hand planing and very sharp blades to avoid picking up, and the splinters are nasty. Also do not breath the dust and the colour when machined will migrate to other parts on finishing unless masking is used.
All from experience in using, and I like it very much. I read somewhere that Armorall? car polish, having UV inhibitors, delayed the colour change, but it did not work for me.
Like the others have said, it will soon turn to a rather muddy brown.
And here's another point. There are lots of companies out there that will custom make doors using any wood that the customer chooses, and any pattern/plann too. And in EVERY case, their installation instructions specify that the door must have some level of protection -- a roof over the outside. Even those made from the best of outdoor woods will specify this.
I think its mostly because all finishes, and all woods, will deteriorate from water, and from sun.
Support our Troops. Bring them home. Now. And pray that at least some of the buildings in the green zone have flat roofs, with a stairway.
It's dissapointing to lean of the color change. It was the color that was driving my interest. But better to learn of it from you all than from seeing it on my entrance door. Thanks to all for your expertise.Jeff
It is an excellent door timber, because amongst other attributes it is very stable. You can retard and I suspect lessen or even ameliorate the darkening by spraying shellac such as Zinsser Dewaxed , then spraying a suitable finish. When it is dark copper it looks very good with a gleaming finish- I think.
Mufti paints a fearful picture about grain characteristics but I think these are all negated by the fact that it machines well (carbide) and is easy to scrape with card scrapers.
Philip
My experience with paduak and shellac is that the alcohol in the shellac really does a number on leeching the color. Not a big problem if a project is entirely made from paduak but I've done paduak inlays in cherry and had some faint but still noticable color runs on the cherry once the shellac hit the paduak. It didn't change the paduak color (still bright orange) but disolved some out where it ran onto the cherry. Just a fluke?
If you build it he will come.
no, not fluke. i've stained clothes with the fresh sawdust.
You can keep the color from running on to the lighter woods by spraying a light coat first. Not exactly a mist coat, but not a full coat, either. Flat, if possible. I mixed padauk and semi-hard timbers often, though there is almost no way to keep the dust from rubbing into softer, lighter woods like poplar. Blowing out the coarse padauk pores really well with compressed air is necessary, too, and don't expect to run an orbital sander back and forth over contrasting woods w/o smearing. OTOH, it's pretty hard to mess up hard maple with padauk dust - no place for it to settle in.I once had a customer request a sculpture base for a very expensive bronze that won first or second prize in a national competition for bird sculptors. (The couple who do the work took both places, so i can't recall which this one won.) I made the base, oiled it, then set it in a window for a week. It turned a perfect color to pick up a tone in the patina they were after. The orange color is stunning, of course, but it is also exceptionally rich-looking after oxidation.
Doug, You don't want to bath the timber in shellac....(,) . Do as Splintergroupie says and all is well. I like that Zinsser dewaxed sealer so much that just now I'll be putting it on toast- marvellous stuff.
But I have never noticed a colour leaching problem- are you not confusing it with fine dust from all that sandpapering which you should have blown out?Philip Marcou
It depends on the padauk Philip, that which I have is Burman, which is stronger than Andaman, but the very devil to machine when quartersawn, which my stock is. The texture is coarse and the grain very interlocked.
I have had most success by hand finishing with a plane changed to York pitch or even greater. Its lovely to turn though.
I built a lowboy about 25 years ago using paduk for the top. I loved the smell of the wood while cutting it. I built it in north Texas (hot and dry) , gave it to my parents in Houston (very hot and humid), and now it's in Oregon (cold and wet). The top has turned a nice brown color but has not split or warped yet. Seems to be a stable wood and I loved working with it.
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