Ipe anyone?

[chris99z71]

Anybody ever work with Ipe (pronounced e-pay)?
It's used as a decking material. I was thinking that it would make an awesome workbench top. It's 70 lb/ft3 (red oak=45, hard maple=40), hardness is 3600 janka* (red oak=1300, hard maple=1450). This stuff is naturally insect, fungus and rot proof. It has a class A NFPA rating for fire resistance, same as concrete!
Hardwoods of NC carries it. From the research I've done on the net, it seems that it can be laminated with epoxy...

*I had to investigate the "Janka"...here's what I found-
"Janka Hardness Test, which measure the force needed to embed a .444 inch steel ball to half it's diameter in a piece of wood. The higher the number the harder the wood."

 

[Big Mike]

I have turned bowls and pens from ipe. It is just as hard as advertised and dulls turning tools in short order. But it will finish up and polish like a new nickel. It is hard, heavy and dense. Not my favorite wood by any means but I will try anything once. I do not have a picture of the finished pieces I did in ipe as they were prior to my ownership of a digital camera. Oh, it is sort of splintery and the splinters sting like heck when they are in your fingers or at least when they are in my fingers....:roll: :-?

 

[woodguy1975]

It would be really tough to work and really dull your cutter knives, but it would make a great bench.

John

 

[chris99z71]

Honestly, I don't know if I'd even need to plan it. It comes S4S with eased corners. If I did, I'd join NCSU's woodshop for $63/semseter and abuse their planer...

 

[johncolvin13]

Ipe is somewhat toxic. Much like many tropical hardwoods, it has a chemical similar to poison ivy, only not as bad. It is hard on the lungs and the skin so take precautions. I have installed thousands of square feet in my years in the flooring industry. Also at any rate if it comes s4s you will still have to plane the top flat after glue up.

 

[DaveO]

Ipe is unbelievebly hard, you can't nail or screw it without a pilot hole and it's very very heavy. I have a hunk of 4x4 Ipe 5 inches long that weights 3.3 lbs. I think it would make a great bench but it is difficult to work with. I have done a lot of things with Ipe, I often get deck cut offs from some of my better ldscp. projects. Heres a picture of a tea box that I made out of Ipe, first time I had ever worked with it...you don't see the 4 broke-off screw and the CA glue to hold the clasp nails in place 'cause even with a pilot hole I couldn't drive them in. I had to bore a same size hole and glue them in place. Dave

 

[Jonz]

I have a little smoother made from ipe, I didn't make it though.

 

[chris99z71]

My thought for "planing" the top flat after glue-up was to use a technique like the one below. (cover of Wood, 4/05)

 

[TimRice]

Dave, it sounds like a Tap set might have been in order to attach the clasp!!

I'd heard that it was hard, but that's amazing.