wood suitable for garden furniture

[Benchwayze]

Hi Wizer,

Not me personally, but it's for someone else. I always try to explain the benefits of better timber at the time, but customers never really listen do they? All they hear is the price you ask. Even softwood isn't dirt cheap and I don't give my labour away! So sometimes the customer expects more.

If it was for me, then a decent softwood is acceptable. In fact, if in ten years time, I can still get outside to sit in the sun then I will be happy!

:lol:

Regards
John

 

[Digit]

Spring! And old man's fancy turns lightly to thoughts of ---- garden furniture.
Which brings me to my point, I've just acquired a pair of very nice cast bench ends myself. I want a single seat outside the workshop and I've a stack of suitably sized ash.
Anyone any opinions on Ash?

Roy.

 

[Rich]

Nice and springy and good enough for hammer shafts, go for it. A couple of coats of exterior varnish and I should think it will last for years, a good choice.

Rich.

 

[Jake]

It's non-durable, and if you've ever had any on a wood-pile, you'll know why! Depends how long you want it to last, how exposed it will be, and how much maintenance you can be bothered to do.

 

[Digit]

Strange that. As Jake says it's listed as non-durable, but my view was the same as Rich's (again) as the darn stuff is used to make canoes!

Roy.

 

[Jake]

I don't know what it's listed as. I do know it is kind of notorious for being one of the (much) less durable UK woods, and that it can rot almost completely in a year or two on a (non-covered) woodpile. As for canoes - do you mean those yank open things? If so, maybe their species are more durable?

 

[Digit]

I use the Wood Explorer Data base Jake and there they list under European Ash that that is one of its uses. Same in one of my books, but at the same time they say the same as you that it's far from durable.
Seems daft that people would build canoes out of a something that's supposed to be non-durable.
I think I'll have to take another look at my wood store.

Roy.

 

[Rich]

you could always make a coracle, :lol:

Alright, I was leaving anyway, :roll:

Rich.

 

[Benchwayze]

In which direction Rich?



John

 

[Shultzy]

My house was built in '68 and they used ash pads in the walls for the windows to be secured to. There seems to be no deterioration of the pads, but I suppose they are not subjected to the full force of the weather.

 

[dickm]

Years ago, I had a Morris Traveller, which you may remember had an ash rear frame. It certainly began to rot after about 8 years, but I've seen well maintained ones with no rot at all after longer periods. And classic Morgans have their entire body mounted on ash frames. So properly treated, it might be OK for the bench?

 

[jasonB]

You could try sweet chestnut for a native hardwood, often used for fenching and weather boarding.

If you go the softwood route then Larch is good outside but will need a bit of sorting to avoid knotts in the slats which could weaken them

Jason

 

[Pete Robinson]

Anyone who mentioned Sapele as a wood for outdoor use, well sorry, but it is in fact not a durable wood and I would not personally use it out doors but here are some of the more common woods that are really good for out door use and extremely resilient to the elements that will last longer than most of us!!

European Boxwood, Sweet Chestnut, Idigbo, Iroko, Mahogany (American), American White Oak, European Oak, Rosewood, Teak, Utile, Black Walnut, Ceder, Cypress, Yew.

Plenty of choice here and most are stocked by my local timber yard.

Hope this helps

 

[LarryS.]

Anyone who mentioned Sapele as a wood for outdoor use, well sorry, but it is in fact not a durable wood and I would not personally use it out doors but here are some of the more common woods that are really good for out door use and extremely resilient to the elements that will last longer than most of us!!

European Boxwood, Sweet Chestnut, Idigbo, Iroko, Mahogany (American), American White Oak, European Oak, Rosewood, Teak, Utile, Black Walnut, Ceder, Cypress, Yew.

Plenty of choice here and most are stocked by my local timber yard.

Hope this helps

thanksfor the list thats excellent, will print it off and take it with me to my local timber yard


paul

 

[Benchwayze]

Anyone who mentioned Sapele as a wood for outdoor use, well sorry, but it is in fact not a durable wood and I would not personally use it out doors but here are some of the more common woods that are really good for out door use and extremely resilient to the elements that will last longer than most of us!!

European Boxwood, Sweet Chestnut, Idigbo, Iroko, Mahogany (American), American White Oak, European Oak, Rosewood, Teak, Utile, Black Walnut, Ceder, Cypress, Yew.

Plenty of choice here and most are stocked by my local timber yard.

Hope this helps

thanksfor the list thats excellent, will print it off and take it with me to my local timber yard


paul

I find it strange that Sapele isn't classed as durable. I used some to make a wooden Scooter for my daughter years ago. That was left out in the yard, through all weathers. The only time it got broken was when an irate neighbour threw it down the grove, because it had been left with the handlebars lying on his lawn! (Gawd, he had a beautiful lawn; but he dug it up recently, as he can't mow it these days. ccasion5: He's still a grumpy old person!) To be honest, I probably would've complained too.

Anyhow, Cascamite fixed the damage and the scooter lasted a few more years.

I finished it with polyurethane varnish, but never re-painted it. Maybe the varnish helped, but my sources say Sapele is a durable timber even if it is more often seen as furniture or interior doors. So the jury will be out on that one then. :lol:

John

 

[jasonB]

My books have sapele as moderatly durable which means it will last 10-15yrs in a "grave yard" test.

Jason

 

[OPJ]

One of the reasons I suggested sapele was because I previously worked for a company that made five-bar gates from this timber. They previously used iroko (before I started) but they may have changed over due to H&S...? Some people said it was because of the cost, but I'm pretty sure that 3" sapele is cheaper than iroko? (It is on the Yandles site, anyway.)

So, Paul, have you been down to give David Simmonds an ear-ache yet? :wink:

 

[TheDudester]

With regards to teak I have these bits from a teak gateleg garden table. The table was badly damaged, especially the outer pieces of the top. There are only six instead of 8 and some of them are damaged too.

I would like to make a table top for a frame that already exists and wondered if I could use the other pieces glued together to make the missing segments or whether I should try and find some teak to make them even if it is hard to find or expensive.

D

 

[Pete Robinson]

Ok, so just what is a durable wood??? well here goes...........
Any wood can be treated to ensure longlivity but some woods are naturally more resistive to the elements than others and so are classed as durable. ((graveyard test) An untreated sample of heartwood is placed into the ground for a number of years and monitored to see how long it lasts))
As I understand from these tests, but please don't quote me on this:

PINE: 2 YEARS
OAK: 20-25 YEARS
IROKO: 40-65 YEARS

 

[NaomiA]

I have had a teak garden furniture set for almost 6 years and it is still good. It has gone a silvery grey colour and we just wash it down with soap and water every spring. I have read up about teak on this and it is a really good wood for outdoor use as it has high oil content.