I am sure this question is asked all the time but so far I have not turned up the answer I am looking for in my searches……
I am building some adirondack chairs to sell. (already sold 6) So far I am making them out of Cedar. I don’t know what type of cedar, it is the generic stuff I can get at Menards. I am looking for a afforadable alternative. What I want is a wood that will not splinter, is not full of knots, is relatively easy to machine, and will hold up outside for the whole summer on the lawn. I have seen discussions on the best woods but on afforadable alternatives to the best woods. I have heard maybe douglas fir is a good alternative. Any suggestions?
With your collective experience….Will cedar hold up? I have heard concerns of it becoming splintery. Will the stain protection help with the splintering problem?
PS: I plan to finish the chairs with a acrylic latex Olympic white pigmented stain that has waterguard and sunblock.
Replies
try cypress.
teak, mahogany, osage orange, ipe
I don't think you can stain cypress. I know you can't stain ipe or teak. Most of the exotics have natural resins that prevent the stain from penetrating, also the grain is so dense.
Cypress will stain readily, but you should use a conditioner to prevent splotching. It's grain pattern is very similar to pine. It's fairly soft, but does weather beautifully.
I am going to build 2 Garden Benches this Spring and appreciate all the regard for cypress; it was my first choice as well. I want to ask you about the conditioner you mentioned--what do you use? Typically, conditioner used to prevent blotching refers to a thinned shellac, but shellac doesn't like water much, and these benches will be outside in NC all year. Also would you topcoat cypress or let it remain in its natural state? thanks, JB
Jim, I used Minwax wood conditioner, and it worked great. I had to stain the cypress a dark walnut color, and the conditioner evened out the absorption of the stain so there was no splotching. As far as being outside, I'm no expert on finishing for that. Personally, I like the natural look of weathered cypress. I would guess that a treatment, as opposed to a film finish, might work better. But I'm guessing. Maybe someone else can chime in on that aspect.
Hope I've helped some. Good luck.
Mr. Creekwood, Thanks for the speedy reply. I forgot about minwax! I would like to keep the cypress natural, so perhaps I'll just linseed oil it and let the elements do the rest. If you have any additional thoughts, let me know--I won't be starting the benches for a month or so. Jim
Jim,
Thought I would add 2 cents to this thread. Been reading from the beginning and found it quite interesting about using all the different woods. Cypress is an excellent wood to use for any outside project. I have been using it for 30+ years and can say I haven't found anything better, considering $$$. I would caution you though that if it is to be left outside no finish will stay with it, unless you re-coat every 6 months to 1 year. And any finish you put on, oil or water based, short of paint, fence stain or waterproofer(Thompsons) will give it an un-attractive finish. Yes the conditioner will work for the short term, but if it is outside, it will go away also. The conditioners are really to be used for inside finishes.
Mother nature will have her way! I have built over 250, swings, chairs, tables, lounges, planters and gliders out of cypress. It will turn a pretty sliver-gray after a few months to a year or so, according to the amount of sunlight it will be in.
Also if it has ground contact it may or may not rot, but bugs will get it. True there are some old (150 years) homes on the Bayous in Louisiana built from it, but that was old growth, virgin timber. Short of the sinker wood you can get at times there's not much real mature cypress left. But what's left is still very good.
And on the PT wood. Whether it's CCA, Penta or the newer stuff. Just use this as a guide. Anything that will keep bugs and rot from destroying the wood.....can't be good for ya! I climb, work on and around CCA, Penta and Creosote power poles all the time. Trust me, you don't want that for something you sit on! It will be just a matter of time, before the "new" treatments will bare out their own problems.
Another site is http://www.customcypress.com . I buy from Mr. Amacker all the time. .70 to 1.00 per bf rough cut.
Good luck to you Jim on your benches and to you Hartmanba on the chairs. Let us know how they come out.
Jimmy
as always I wish you enough.
Jimmy, Thanks for all the good information about my cypress benches. I'm going to have them outside all year so it sounds like natural is the way to go. Also, THANKYOU for the customcypress.com website-- I have explored some suppliers, but that one is the best I've seen. best regards, Jim
Since you're buying from Menards, I assume you are located somewhere in the Midwest.
If so, that means Cedar is probably your best/low cost wood for this purpose. Clear cedar is most likely also available in your area -- but you'll probably have to get it from a specialty yard.
Cypress would also be good, but I have never seen it in any of the yards around here.
There are the classic outdoor woods -- white oak, mahogany, teak, and redwood -- but of course, they are pricey.
Doug fir would be okay too, especially if you were willing to paint it, but you need to make sure it is fir, and not spruce or hemlock. Quarter sawn fir or old growth stuff would be preferable, but it is hard to come by.
My suggestion would be to check out the big lumber yards in your area that cater to deck builders. There are some interesting woods coming out of South America these days that are great for Adirondack chairs. Ipe is one -- and I built a run of such chairs a couple of years ago out of something my local yard called Brazilian cherry. The wood was clear, and they took on a rather spectacular look with an oil/varnish finish. I haven't seen any of them since the sale, so I can't really say how they held up. If there was a problem, however, I'm sure the my phone would have rung by now.
Hartmanba,
Since you are using a pigmented latex stain, have you considered making them out of pressure treated deck boards? I have built about a dozen of them and used a brick red latex stain. They have all held up very well to snow, rain and sun for about 2 years now and counting.
The PT lumber is so cheap that you can afford to cut out all the knots. I think it cost about $5 to $10 per chair for the wood. And the beefier thickness of the deck boards (compared to 3/4" lumber) gives the chairs presence.
--joejoe
You're absolutely right that PT is a viable alternative to the more expensive woods. Personally, I would be hesitant to use it straight from the lumber yard, but I have made any number of outdoor pieces (including Adirondack chairs), after I let the stock air dry for a year or so. I haven't checked lately, but Menards also sells a brown PT stock (as compared to the usual green treated stuff) that actually looks very good with a natural finish. The quality of the stock was better (fewer knots), and as you suggest, I cut out the defects, and then planed the 5/4 material down to about 1".I also second your recommendation for making chairs out of 5/4 stock, since I agree Adirondack chairs look more substantial, and to my eye, more elegant.
I appreciate the feedback and am interested in the idea of using pressure treated material.
I am curious.... Are there health risks with using this? We are talking jointing, planing, cuting, routing etc of the material. No matter how good my dust collection system I am sure I am going to breath it in not to mention getting it on my skin.
What are your thought?
They recently changed the mix of chemicals used to treat the wood, so it is safer now than it used to be. I don't have a problem working it, but I always wear a dust mask -- and my TS does have a dust collector.
Right, they used to use an arsenic concoction, now I think it's copper based.
I live in Canada. There is some discussion of banning the pressure treated wood altogether. It is not good for you or the environment.
That's OK, your cows are not good for us either.......
This thread has a few nice ideas, and a couple that i personally want to shoot down.
You can absolutely stain teak, are you crazy? i restore wooden boats, and we absolutely stain teak in the shop(using the petit brand).
also, if you really , i mean REALLY want to use PT i can't stop you, i just really wish you wouldn't. i hope Canada does ban it (not that we're likely to catch on, but hell...), yeah, and who wants to eat cow anyway? :)
up here, in NNY there are lots of Amish sawmills. some wood is much cheaper green, all you need is patience and a little knowledge
I disagree with you about the use of PT wood. First, they have removed arsenic from the chemical solution used for treatment; it is now some kind of mix containing copper. This change, BTW, raises a number of issues about using joist hangers and fasteners for construction. But as far as outdoor furniture is concerned, it works fine.I take a perverse kind of pleasure in using common materials in an uncommon way (an old FL Wright idea). Thus, I carefully select the stock for grain, etc., plane it, and give it luxuriant finish. Also, around here (MN) PT is available in what they call "brown treated" -- as compared to the more common green treated. The lumber is a higher grade, and when planed, it takes on a pleasant, brownish cast that looks terrific under a natural oil/varnish finish. Even experienced wwers have trouble identifiying it; and I always get a smile when I tell them it is plain old PT.As I noted in an earlier post, the main problem using this stuff for anything other than general construction is the the moisture content. You just have to plan ahead, sticker it, and let it dry for somewhere up to 6 months or so.
i can completely get behind using common materials in an uncommon way: i'm sure most everyone that reads this forums does to some extent. Pallets would be free, although you would spend a lot of time hunting and carefully taking them apart. Teak and Ipe are pricier than cedar at the lumber yard (unless you're buying the clear stuff that they have planed and sell by the linear foot, the jerks) so hey, PT does make a bit of sense pricewise. what about yellow pine? how about some phone calls to local shops for scraps? sawmills?
i really must admit that i don't like PT lumber. i've never had slivers that nasty, period. it probably resembles wood more than MDF , although i'm curious as to which is the least healthy in terms of the fine dust. it seems like it would take a good deal of sanding, and i don't like breathing copper, etc.
besides my own bias over the PT material, i think ADK chairs are charming. make them.
Cypress is available cheaply here in Florida and used with excellent results on outdoor furniture. One source I use is " Big River Cypress Co" in Blountstown FL (near Tallahassee). I have been paying $1.10/fb for 8/4 x 8 x 16' planks. Almost all has been useable, (mostly for 7' doors) The knots have been tight and stay that way, the wood is KD and cheap. I buy 2-3 MBF at a time, but I believe they will ship small quantities with no cost penalty. They also have Atlantic White cedar #2 in 4/4x6x16' @ $1.20/bf, with which I have also had great luck and almost no waste. (850)-674-5991 is the phone but ask for 'ED' in the 'Board Room' where they sell the KD.
http://www.bigrivercypress.com is their site but beware the stocklist is way out of date. (nice folks to deal with)
My grandmother in Michigan had a couple of Adirondack chairs made out of pine. Every couple of years we'd scrape them off and repaint them. I'll bet they were 60 years old the last time I saw them. She'd put them in the garage in the winter but they were outside for most of the year. So just about anyt wood you use should hold up. Especially if you stain them with the Olympic stains-which are not really like furniture stain. (I Olympic stained the T-111 plywood on my barn in about 1991-still looks great better than any paint. No chipping, flaking, water damage) If you want to save money on wood and are going into production, your best bet is probably to buy rough lumber from the local wholesale lumber supplier. Price out the cost of the wood you'd like to use add in the cost of ripping it down on the tablesaw and the cost of buying a Delta surface planer. To ease the edges of the boards I always use a router and a 1/8 or 1/4 radius bit. Rounding planes on most wood tear out splinters. If you're careful with the planer you won't have to sand--these are yard chairs. I think you'll also find that the day you spend ripping and planing will move along quickly, give you a lot of satisfaction and you'll exchange some time for a big chunk of money you won't be paying the retail lumberyard.If you could set up a display of your chairs along a main road to the local lakes and cabins, have a couple of small similarly styled tables to set between pairs of chairs--you'll probably sell everythng you make. These type of chairs are a real impulse buy. People see'em, recognize the classic style and can picture them on their back decks. And as you already know the only other wooden chair as comfortable, and relaxing as an Aditondack is mabye a Morris chair at 20 times the price. The Adirondack style footstools are popular too-especially to the mom or dad who's just driven 200 miles with three kids in the backseat asking every three minutes, "Are we there yet?"
I assume it is pine that has been PT.
As a matter of interest all houses using timber framing here NZ has to PT,that is on external walls.
Due to some bad house designs,there was a spate of rotting framing,the government got in the act,as they are wont to do here,resulting in it becoming mandatory to use it.
Am fascinated by the amount of designs of Adirondacks,some are a bit low and not popular with the oldies.Me included:-)
I have a different concern about PT used on my tools. It is so corrosive now that you have to use special fasteners or they corrode away in one year. Even galvanized ones. So what is it going to do to the insides of my planer, dc and saws. I think I'll try something else instead.
john
I implore you to do some research on treated wood before you even start building anything.
A simple Yahoo search "treated wood" will give you more info than you can read in a lifetime.
To make a few high points though:
All the new PT is copper based: Mostly true, but so was the stuff (CCA) the gov just banned.
The new stuff is less tough on the fasteners: Actually it is worst on fasteners than the old stuff was. Copper does not mix well with other metals.
Stickering the wood to dry gets rid of a large portion of the chemicals: Only the stuff on the face of the lumber. Remember this is pressure treated, it goes deep in the wood.
I've been cutting and working with this stuff for years with no ill effects: The stuff has long term issues. Arsenate or any heavy metal accumulates in your body, mostly in the lungs, liver, kidneys and colon. It will always be with you. And all test I have read say the sawdust is the WORST part.
Granted the newer PT chemicals are suppose to be organic and safer to have and use, but I still say organic or not if it's designed to keep bugs, rot and decay away it's got to be some mean stuff.
I'm not saying don't use PT at all, I'm just saying use it wisely and protect yourself when working with it. Regular wood dust is already bad for your health, we all know that. So take even more precautions when working with PT wood.
Sounds like scare tatics doesn't it? You bet it is! I just want to be talking, arguing and exchanging ideas with you folks in 10-20 years. I know lots of stuff can "get us" but I don't think we need to help it along, do we?
Good luck and be SAFE!
Jimmy
as always I wish you enough
please explain"stickered"?
Actually "sticks" -- maybe 1/2" square --laid on boards you are stacking, which will then provide a space to allow better air circulation.
Who wants to eat cow? Real men that's who. The only thing better is when you raise your own beef. As Julia Childs once stated, "I'm a card carrying carnivore".
I do agree however that PT lumber is not at all good for surfaces that people are in contact with on a regular basis, but for outside framing and utility work it's great.
hahaha, well napster i think we are in complete agreement on 2 points: raising your own beef being good (that's what i ate for 18 years growing up, along with what they call "raw" milk these days) and proper use of PT lumber. this business about "real men" however....
YARRR!!!!
NNY huh?? We built a camp up in the Town of Fowler using nothing but "rough cut" a few years back and it turned out beautifully, but the patience issue is paramount. We stickered all the wood and let it sit for a few months as it was still a tree about 3 days previously. It can make a mess out of your hands with all the sap and all but it could make a beautiful chair after a couple months of air drying and those hot summer days taking the moisture out. We've built and bought a lot from the Amish sawmills, you can't beat the pricing and you get what you pay for as well, seems nice in this day and age to actually get what you pay for....
Napie.. We are going to start giving a free cow with every load of soft wood Lumber. We tried using the cows disguised as horses to haul lumber wagons but they couldn't make it to the border. Have a good one
Brian " Your friend to the north"
I have read nothing that indicates a problem as a result of casual contact with PT wood. I always wear a dust mask when working with it, though. From what I have read, you would have to injest a tremendous amount of the chemicals to do any damage.
Dick Durbin
Your spending the labor no matter what wood you chose, why not spend a little extra and use teak, cypress, redwood, mahogany or cedar. I've built a few in the past and think you'll regret not using a better material.
In my mind, I think PT should only be used for exterior framing. I wouldn't even use PT for decking, across the board its a really poor material. All the chemicals, its heavy, wet and in time it will dry out and shrink and crack.
That has been my major problem with using PT wood--it comes sopping wet. I've been able to work with it after about two months if stickered though. Sort of making a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
Moisture content is a big problem. When using it for anything but construction, I would say 2 months is a minimum. More time is better.
I've made three pairs of Adarondack chairs out of PT I bought at Home Depot. The oldest pair is going on four years and they still look great. I use Baer deck stain and a sealer/ top coat that's supposed to help diminish the effects of UV rays. I wash the boards with a deck wash treatment and let them dry. This seems to wash out most of the excess chimicals.The safety issue is an interesting one. There has yet to be a direct connection with the chemincals in treated wood and cancer. All the same one of them is arsenic, which can't be good for you. But the treated lumber industry is changing the chemical mix and taking the arsenic out. I wouldn't use PT for a picnic table, but for the chairs it's probably fine, especially if you wash them and then treat them with the sealer/top coat which should seal them in.The last pair I made, I joined with Miller step dowels and Gorilla glue. My friend/customer wanted them green so I used a a green-colored deck stain. They turned out so nice he uses them inside. He's 6'7" so I made the back of his chair extra long. He says its the most comfortable "recliner" he's ever had. I do sworrry about PT lumber inside his house, but as long as his kids aren't chewing on them I guess they'll be all right.
hey JoeJoe,
I was thinking of building a nice picnic table and was thinking of using PT wood but doesn't it tend to splinter a lot?Regards,
Buzzsaw
Would it not depend on which timber is PT,or is it all the same there?
Buzzsaw,
I've never built a picnic table out of pressure treated wood. The deck boards I use to make my adirondack chairs out of are the result of careful picking at the lumberyard. I only buy when the picking is good and then sticker them for a few months. As they dry, some boards become almost useless--they are cut up for thin seat slats. But the vast majority of boards are usable for the longer pieces needed.The grain can raise tremendously on some of the boards as they dry. Sand it down or joint it and you are ready to go. I have actually found splintering to only be a big problem if the wood is still wet.Hope this helps youJoejoe
In response to several posts:PT species -- around here (MN) what is commonly available is Southern Yellow Pine.Splintering -- has not been a problem with any furniture items I have built. But then, I always sand and/or plane it, and treat it with an oil/varnish concoction.Fasteners: I use stainless steel screws. With the new copper based chemical they are using for PT, I understand galvanized fasteners will corrode in time. Another tip for weather-proofing furniture. I mix up a batch of regular epoxy glue and coat the bottom of any legs that will sit on the ground. This prevents moisture from wicking up through the leg. I usually double coat these end-grain surfaces, resulting in a glue "pad" that is almost 1/8" thick.
In response to the posts regarding the safety of sitting on PT wood used to make a chair: a Federally-mandated Material Safety Data Sheet exists for all the old and new PT woods. They contain valuable information about chemicals in the wood, exposure issues (contact, ingestion, inhalation, etc.) and so on.
They are available on line and generally download as PDFs. Anyone remember where to get them... or do a Google.
While you're at it, I think I heard something recently about Feds classifying sawdust as a known carcinogen??? Anyone hears this too?
<<"While you're at it, I think I heard something recently about Feds classifying sawdust as a known carcinogen??? Anyone hears this too?">>Yes this is true -- hence all the surging interest in dust collectors and air cleaners over the last five years. As far as working with PT wood is concerned, absolutely you want to be careful. Always wear a dust mask, cut/plane what you can outside. In other words, use common sense. If you are building a couple of chairs or a picnic table, I think that is an entirely different matter than setting up a production operation where you are building stuff out of PT all day, everyday. And then, I think PT is fine for furniture from a user point of view. I wouldn't want my kids licking the top of a picnic table made from PT stock, but that would be true of a table made from anything that sits outdoors. Besides, I finish anything I make with PT, and it is probably safer overall than cedar or ipe left to weather naturally. I'm thinking of bird poop and mold spores, and squirrels crawling around the piece. But the bottom line in woodworking is if an operation or material makes you nervous, or gives you pause, don't do it or use it.
Do not use PT for a picnic table or anything else that is likely to come into contact with food, or your hands as you eat the food. PT either contains arsenic (being phased out) or copper and other heavy metals. They are not good for you. Even the PT lumber manufacturers warn against using the material where food could come in contact with the surface.
That is strange because there was a long article and instructions in a recent Family Handyman magazine.Regards,
Buzzsaw
I didn't see it. I'm not saying don't use it for anything. I've built a half-dozen Adarondack chairs out of them, but there have been all kinds of warnings regarding food contact. I read several articles in the woodworking pubs a year or so ago when I was researching it. I didn't prevent me from building my kid's fort/play set out of it, but I wouldn't make the top of a picnic table out of it. To me, it's just not worth the risk.
BTW I put a finish on my Adarondacks, and I use a deck wash beforehand to try and get the excess chemicals out. Some people say let it dry a year, but I don't have the time for that. All chairs are doing fine.
<<"Do not use PT for a picnic table or anything else that is likely to come into contact with food">>I generally use a plate; you are making it sound as though people dump their food on the table and scoop it into their mouth. What am I missing here?
You are missing incidental contact issues that can be problematic. Are your hands going to touch the table... perhaps repeatedly? Are you tempted to eat a potato chip along with your burger or hot dog? Bingo! What's on your hands is now in your mouth.To have a little fun with this topic... aren't you the least bit concerned about the potential for dain bramage?Happy snacking! MMMmmm. Copper dogs. Quaternary Crisps! Delicious!!
Nikki,
If the manufacturers of some industrial product warn you about it, shouldn't you be concerned? In my experience they are the LAST people that want you to know something might be dangerous. They "voluntarily" agreed to take a product off the market. In the nearly three-decades I've been involved with industrual issues, no business ever "voluntarily" agrees to do something unless the government has a nearly air-tight case that what they are doing does bad things. The only reason any body ever enters a consent decree is so they don't have to admint guilt. Wak up and smell the poisen.
Do you have any evidence at hand that PT is dangerous to the end user?From what I have been able to learn, the only real danger is in the milling of such wood. and here you will be fine if you wear a dust mask, and don't pick your nose without washing your hands first. Remember too, that in the few furniture pieces I have made from PT, I always finished them with an oil/varnish concoction. My common sense tells me that whatever contact danger there might be would thereupon be reduced to zero.
If it's harmless, why did they agree to remove it from the market?There were a bunch of articles in the WW pubs about it a year or so ago when the PT mfgs agreed to change their formula. I don't have them in email form or I'd send them to you. People don't just remove things from the market place that make money without a reason.I'm not saying don't use it. I've made a half-dozen adirondacks out of it, and I'd make a half-dozen more. I don't serve food on them though. I also use a deck wash to leach the excess out and I topcoat or paint them.I wouldn't make the top of a picnic table out of one. I might make the legs or seats out of it.BTW schools all over Maryland, where I live, are replacing PT structures because of the fear they may cause health problems. The school systems have generally stopped building playgopurnd equipment out of it. I think that's a little over the top.You do whatever you want. If it doesn't concern you, have at it. make plates from it. I'll just bring my own when you invite me over for a BBQ.
Nikkiwood,
Do some research with a Goggle or Yahoo search. You will be surprised.
The chemicals in the PT leach out of the wood. Several ways to have contact with it. The main thing I can garnish from the info is, it makes for high concentrations in the soil which leads to runoff. Also skin contact. These chemicals have a cumulative effect on the body. If you get in your body they are there for the duration.
Your oil/varnish finish may be good for a short time but if it's outside it's gone in 6 months or so.
I only harken back to my previous post: If it keeps the bugs and rot away it's got to be some bad stuff. Think about it.
There are just too many other woods alternatives out there that are a lot safer for the craftsman and end user, not to mention look better too.
Be safe and good luck.
Jimmy
as always I wish you enough
The main health problem with PT is that the leachate is a heavy metal salt.Heavy metals have a nasty habit of sitting in one's liver and not being excreted, cf, arsenic. That's the "A" in CCA.PT's not that much cheaper than cypress or untreated SYP.C'mon, gang. Get real. Even the Parks and Rec folks wander by and slap a couple of coats of paint on their picnic tables once in a while.This is pretty much a no-brainer here, gang. Let's move on to something else, eh?Leon Jester
I've built hundreds of picnic tables here in the Boston area over the last 25 years. I've always used eastern white pine. It's soft, works well, and lasts-believe it or not. I've found that leaving it unfinished is just as durable as using a finish on it. The only problems I've ever seen is where the wood meets the ground it tends to rot. I suggest to customers they put the feet on a small block. I think the normal lifespan has been about 15 years using white pine. When using a finish I've had good success with Man o war pigmented spar varnish, or krylon pigmented poly (walmart).There are more old drunkards than old doctors. Ben Franklin
Try Cypress. If you want to, instead of adding a preservative to the finish, you could use a good quality of outdoor finish because Cypress won't weather as fast as other woods in the elements. It even paints good. In Louisiana,where the weather is hot and humid in the summer (up to 95% humidity is not uncommon), we use Cypress and at one time was plentiful. There is a slab at the State Capital building in Baton Rouge that came out of a tree that had over 14,000 b/f of timbe in it. That is not a typo, yes, 14000- (came from virgin cypress forrest in the swamp land from about 100 years ago). Look for postings on the net (maybe even some on FWW) as to where you can get some good, old groath, close grained Cypress (around here, we pay up to $5.00 b/f for "sinker Cypress" (wood that was sunk when the loggers were trying to get them down the river to the sawmills or train depots). The wood usually will take on a patina of the mud that it was in before being brought up to the surface. I have seen wood with a blue color and it is magnificent. Good Luck and let us know what wood you finally decide to use.
I finished a sizable IPE deck last fall and I'll tell you, the wood is wonderous! And there are more and more patio furn. builders using it as it becomes more available. IPE is stronger, harder, and more decay resistant that anything else on the market. It cuts and machines beautifully. If you have the desire, you can sand it down to steel wool, oil it, and it will feel like polished metal.
Do a web search on IPE and you'll find a ton of info. I was originally going to use Clear "D" western red cedar but when I discovered that the IPE was close to the same price it was a no-brainer. Cedar, when used as a decking surface (horizontal) will last 10 - 12 years. IPE is close to 30. Plus, it's a beautiful clear hardwood that not everyone has.
Just remember, you are contributing to rain forest destruction.
I have build 20 or so Adir chairs and have had the best results with clear cedar from the local lumber yard. White oak and cypress make a nice chair also but are not availible in1x6,1x8 material, therefore have a greater waste factor. Also cedar is availible (in my area of CT) in 2x4 and 2x6 form for adir loveseats (you need the 2x to have no center support). In the few that I have made that were painted ( I never painted the cypress chairs) that the cedar takes paint better then the oak ( I know who would paint the oak chairs??), and the cedar if left weathers well also.
I would question putting a solid color stain ( Is this a house stain?) on these chairs though as they will chalk over time. I now, after many tries, use Ben Mor soft gloss latex house paint on the chairs when the client wants them painted.
MikeD
I use pine, #2 grade. Its cheap if you buy a least a mbf. use a poly primer, use a poly outdoor paint, I make a living making these. and they will last several years.
I'm not much in the outdoor furniture making business, but what about ash? the color of the wood is great, it works easy from what I know and while it would make for a heavier chair it seems to me like a good choice.....can somebody tell me if I'm wrong on this as I want to build a few of them myself......
White oak would be a better alternative.
OK...hopefully I can find some around the OKC area without paying an arm and a leg for it.....back home I could get it easier I think, but those are the breaks........
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