Material selection for Patio tables in South Florida

[drodda]

I have a customer wanting to get a set of patio tables to leave on the patio year round. They want them to be walnut. What materials and finish do you recomend to withstand the heat and humidity of South Florida on the patio?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-D

[wberminio]

Walnut is not the best exterior wood.
I would recommend teak/ cyprus/ ipe

Erminio

[myxpykalix]

I had a piece of ipe and put it through my thickness planer and it sounded like i was trying to run a piece of cinder block thru it, that stuff is HARD so if you use it make sure you have good tooling.

[sawdust535]

Jack,
I experienced the same thing. I think another name used for Ipe is Ironwood. (appropriately named)

[cabnet636]

i thought iron wood is lignum vitae? and was used for the keels of large sailing vessels due to its density and weight, in the carribean we saw quite a bit of it and the IPE i have seen on decks around houses in the states looks nothing like it.

jim

[stevem]

I have been machining Ipe pistol grips using carbide bits made for cutting metal. The bits work well and seem to last.

Apparently Ipe weathers well and certainly looks nice. Wear breathing protection when cutting it.

[Gary Campbell]

Dave...
Erminio is right No walnut outside in FL. Teak & Ipe are great, cypress is OK, old growth sinker cypress is great also. You might want to also check out Native Mahogany, Jatoba and Cumaru. Many of the native hardwoods from here in the south will work well. Even Australian pine works ok. Most of these weather resistant hardwoods have high silica content, so you must use carbide blades in the planer, shaper etc, HSS blades have a lifespan of seconds.

As far as finish goes, most of the woods I listed NEED nothing. But the customer may not like the silver/gray color. An oil that is recoated every season will give best results and darker rich color. Marine type varnishes would be second choice, but will require sand & recoat every year. (high maintenence like yacht brightwork)

George/James... most every locale (country)gives the nickname "ironwood" to its hardest species. You can find over 20 species that it is listed as an aka for. Both Ipe and L.V. are on that list.

Gary

[drodda]

What about a table that is located on a screened in porch? The customer wants the look of walnut? I realize that this will not hold up in the conditions. What would the life expectancy of walnut veneered plywood in this type of screened porch?

I appreciate the suggestions. Thanks for all the help.

[Gary Campbell]

Dave...
In a screen porch, (shaded 100%) and if left unfinished and glued up with urethane glue, solid walnut may last a few years. I put the lifespan of veneered plywood in those conditions at weeks.

We usually use an open (slat) design that allows larger tables without the expansion and contraction associated with wider panels. We almost always use the heavy oil, heavy silica tropical woods that seem to live well in 90 degrees and 90%+ humidity. Replacing these oils on a regular basis helps the wood live.

Our ability to replace many pieces that were constructed well, but with improper materials, keeps our customers coming back. We do not use plywoods as the constant movement destroys the bond.
Here is a pic of a "Zen" type bench that we were commisioned to build. It was installed next to a jacuzzi tub.


8522

BTW.. the 40bdft of Teak in this table retails for $30/bdft. You can guess what the table cost.
Gary

[sailfl]

Gary

Very nice table.

[wberminio]

Dave
If the client insists on ply wood table-look into a marine grade plywood.Be sure to finish the edges with solid wood and use a good exterior adhesive.
There my not be many choices a far as face veneers,But this might be your next best bet.

BTW- Good advice and great job on the table,Gary

Erminio

[porscheman]

Dave,

If your customer is interested in the look of walnut, then as others have suggested, ipe is a good choice. One of the names that ipe was sold under, especially in the early years when the species was not that prevalent, is "Brazilian Walnut". It's very dark brown and if you protect it with an oil-based finish and keep it out of constant UV exposure, it will retain that dark brown look. I've made Adirondack furniture from ipe and it still looks great years later. You can also get a nice contrast by combining jatoba (Brazilian Cherry) with ipe. The dark red-orange of jatoba and dark brown of ipe go well together. I'm attaching a photo of an Adirondack chair built with that combination.

Regards.

John


8523

[beacon14]

Gary,

How are the end panels made on that bench? It looks like "breadboard" ends at the floor - cross-grain construction. How are you allowing for wood movement there?

[mikek]

How do you spell concrete with a walnut stain? Just kidding. Ipe with an oil finish gets my vote. Use stainless bolts.

8524

[Gary Campbell]

Nils & Erminio... Thank You.

David...

You can see that there is a cross grain panel at the bottom. There also one at the top. They are joined to the rest of the panel with a 1/4 by 1/2 straight T & G (shaker door cutters). The panel is also joined to the legs the same way. All other connections are mortise & tenon & screw & plug

to answer your question, its Teak and I dont! Or should I say, I dont because its teak.
Gary