# Best Exterior Wood for arbor



## J.C. (Sep 28, 2009)

It's looking like we're going to be building an Arbor within the next couple of months and looking for recommendations on wood species. They would prefer to keep it natural or at the most, have to give it a coat of a penetrating sealer once a year. They don't want any type of paint or built up finish. 
Their original thought is they want Teak but we just got a price on teak of $31.50 bd ft which sounds a little on the crazy side to me. We have a couple other places to try but we're looking for other options as well. So whats everyones wood of choice for high end exterior applications? Thanks


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## [email protected] (Jan 10, 2010)

Cedar


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## SLSTech (Sep 13, 2008)

Cedar, Redwood, Ipe, Mahogony - they all have their pro's, cons, and look great in the right hands

What's native to your area?


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## WarnerConstInc. (Jan 30, 2008)

Cypress.


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## William James (Mar 5, 2010)

White oak
PVC


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## WarnerConstInc. (Jan 30, 2008)

Make it out of Tigerwood.


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## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

SLSTech said:


> What's native to your area?


steel i think :thumbup:


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## J.C. (Sep 28, 2009)

Gave them the options and it's looking like IPE. Since we have zero experience with ipe, we ordered a sample piece to play with. From what we hear, it's dense, extremely heavy, and doesn't glue very well. Hopefully with the right sized pilot hole, we won't break every screw we try to put into it.


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## WildWill (Jun 6, 2008)

Spanish Cedar would be another choice. It's easy to work with, does well outdoors, looks great, not super heavy, and should be available in you area for a reasonable price.

http://www.clcboats.com/shop/produc.../marine-lumber-by-the-foot/spanish-cedar.html


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## Gus Dering (Oct 14, 2008)

Tight knot western red cedar.


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## J.C. (Sep 28, 2009)

We've used a fair amount of spanish cedar but for whatever reason they didn't seem too interested in it. 
That does bring me to another question. Is the entire Mahogany family good for outdoor use of is it just certain species?


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## redwood (Dec 5, 2007)

If you use ipe, you will need to double your labor costs. Getting the sizes you might need could be very difficult.

Not all mahogany is created equal.

Personally, I would go with Cedar.


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## J.C. (Sep 28, 2009)

redwood said:


> If you use ipe, you will need to double your labor costs. Getting the sizes you might need could be very difficult.
> 
> Not all mahogany is created equal.
> 
> Personally, I would go with Cedar.


Doesn't look like it will be a problem getting the sizes we need. Only thing we can't get is the 4x8's we need for the segments of the arched top. They only have 3x8's so we'll have to laminate something to get what we need. I'm actually looking forward to trying the stuff out.


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## J.C. (Sep 28, 2009)

Gus Dering said:


> Tight knot western red cedar.
> 
> View attachment 53415


Do you seal the cedar once a year or so to keep the color? I do really like the looks of fresh cedar but like any wood, it can get awful bland sitting out in the sun for a while.


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## J.C. (Sep 28, 2009)

WarnerConstInc. said:


> Make it out of Tigerwood.


That deck you made out of the stuff did turn out really nice. I hope I get to make something out of it someday.


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## Gus Dering (Oct 14, 2008)

J.C. said:


> Do you seal the cedar once a year or so to keep the color? I do really like the looks of fresh cedar but like any wood, it can get awful bland sitting out in the sun for a while.


 It needs to be re-sealed at least every 3 years or so or it will turn grey. I may end up having it done every other year, we will see. I was going to let this go grey but I just couldn't let it happen. The grain looks nicest right after it is sealed.


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## cleveman (Dec 28, 2007)

I think you must have a supply of white oak locally.


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## J.C. (Sep 28, 2009)

They did decide on Ipe and we just finished building it today. We're planning on installing it within the next couple of weeks. (Have I ever mentioned how much I hate working outside when it's freezing out?) 

I would say ipe pretty much lived up to everything I've heard about it so far. It is really hard, really heavy, and I could see glue joints not lasting very long. One other thing we learned about it is: it is extremely sensitive to humidity changes. We had it sitting in the shop for a couple weeks before we started working with it and noticed quite a few surface checks when we started working with it that wasn't there when it was delivered. When we started cutting the stuff, we cut the keystones out of the middle of a couple of boards and there was no visible checks in them. In less than 24 hrs there were numerous splits visible. We started putting the stuff back outside when we weren't using it and within 2 days you weren't able to find the splits that were clear as day a couple days before. I'm really interested in seeing how it looks after being outside for a few years. Now onto the pictures:

There are 624 of these









In here


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## SLSTech (Sep 13, 2008)

Wow, that is some awesome looking work
Mind me asking how much time you have into that


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## J.C. (Sep 28, 2009)

SLSTech said:


> Wow, that is some awesome looking work
> Mind me asking how much time you have into that


We had a couple other small things going on when we were doing it but, I think it would be safe to say it took two of us a solid week.


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