Ipe outdoor bar

[Uncle Cracker]

Ipe is definitely hard. I believe it is related to the same family of wood as the ironwoods. If I turn pens from desert ironwood, only a skew chisel will give me shreds or ribbons. Any of the gouges or scraping tools yields fine dust. When I made the ipe table top, all the dust was very fine, although I used the drum sander exclusively, and not the jointer. Your segmented spiral cutter head might also be partly to blame.

[Carlos]

I can't imagine what the jointer would have done if I had the old HSS knives in it.

You mentioned using the drum sander, and eventually I'll need to use that. I am gluing up a bar top from random-length pieces, but have a few alignment issues. What grits did you use? Did you have any issues in the sander? How heavy were your passes?

[Uncle Cracker]

You mentioned using the drum sander, and eventually I'll need to use that. I am gluing up a bar top from random-length pieces, but have a few alignment issues. What grits did you use? Did you have any issues in the sander? How heavy were your passes?

Started with 80 grit, and went through 120, 180 and 220 (with the grain only), and then made a light pass with the ROS and 400-grit. I purposely tried to use pieces with uniform thickness, to avoid the need for a lot of wood removal, and built the top with it's face down to aid in that regard. Only used 80 and 120-grit on the bottom, without regard for overall flatness. Passes were in 1/64" increments.

[Rich P]

According to an article in the May/June 2002 issue of FWW:

"The imported wood we refer to here in the United States as ipé is
cut from more than a dozen species belonging to the genus
Tabebuia. This genus belongs to the same botanical family as our
native catalpa: Bignoniaceae, usually referred to as the Trumpet
Creeper family because of its many and often attractive flowering
vines. While the family is not a major player in the flora of temperate
North America, it is well represented in the tropics, where
Tabebuia is its most important timber-producing genus."

Here in California (at least), there is a company that markets a plantation grown ipe product under the trade name "Ironwood". From what I have seen it is very consistent in color. It is also expensive.

You will probably find that the yellow dust will turn red when you hit it with blade and bit cleaner, at least it does with the Boeshield brand.

It is definitely a different sort of material.

[Carlos]

It's also quite the eye irritant, which I'd been warned about. Not that my eyes felt bad, but they looked terrible and puffy.

[Rich P]

I fortunately didn't have any allergic reactions but, let me tell you, ipe splinters hurt A LOT. Feels like a sliver of hot steel sticking in you!

[Uncle Cracker]

Ipe can be a sensitizer, and cause you increasing trouble every time you are exposed to it. Best to protect yourself solidly (eyes, mouth, lungs, skin) on the front end, to reduce the reaction... DAMHIKT

[Carlos]

I haven't been around here in a long time, for a wide variety of reasons. But I've been a lot more woodworking lately, and had a few things I needed to research or ask questions about, so here I am. I thought it might be both interesting and useful to do a long-term followup on this.

The sink is still at the marina. So I guess that makes it nearly 8 years old. It was kept covered when we weren't around, and uncovered otherwise. So basically uncovered 6-12 days a month, in the AZ sun. It has held up well. It's no longer pristine and pretty, obviously, but nothing fell apart or anything like that. It's been exposed to torrential rain a few times. I applied Thompson's on a very strict "when I think of it and feel like it and don't start drinking first" schedule. So mostly every couple years. I guess.

If you have to build something for outdoor use, this family of wood with Titebond 3 works well. (To be clear, I didn't use any mechanical fasteners, just glue and clamp.)

[atgcpaul]

Welcome back. Always nice when members come back.

Any pics of your bar?

I made a ipe topped BBQ table this summer. Now I want to go grill something

[poolhound]

Dang Carlos and I thought you had forgotten you owned any WWorking equipment ;-) Is this a new batch of Ipe, I though you got some from them a few years back.

[Carlos]

Thanks for the welcomes! I've been building stuff here and there, but nothing I needed to research, and not all that regularly. I've been thinking about getting back into the discussion side of woodworking and learning more about a few things, solving a few challenges, etc. The shop is in great shape and I'm pretty happy with where we've ended up on machinery, other than the drill press. There's always something to buy...

My post was about the sink I built 8 years ago with the Ipe from them. Just happened across this as I looked through some of my old posts, and thought that it would be useful to know that Titebond 3 stands up to the outdoors.

Oh yeah, Scotch and cigars are always available if you care to visit...

I'll find some pics later. In a quick search of my marina pics, I found only two with the sink, and both had a topless woman nearby. Now you know why I like boats so much...

[atgcpaul]

I'll find some pics later. In a quick search of my marina pics, I found only two with the sink, and both had a topless woman nearby. Now you know why I like boats so much...

Somehow, "Honey, I don't know how the naked woman got in the picture. I was trying to take a picture of the sink" never seems to work for me.

[Carlos]

LOL, she's usually one of the first ones out of the bikini...

[capncarl]

I visited a shop Monday called SoundPlay inc. in Parrott Ga., that makes outdoor musical equipment for playgrounds using IPE . They have some interesting musical playground equipment for kids of all ages, and would be a fun project to build for the grandkids!