|
|
Wood species for outdoor furnitureby Professor Gene Wengert Q.
A.
Your choice of teak is very good as it offers low shrinking and swelling, good color with age, natural decay resistance, natural oils that repel water, and good strength. Honduran mahogany is also very good, as it provides most of the needed properties (plus most Honduran mahogany is from plantations, not old forests, so it is more environmentally acceptable). It does shrink and swell with wetting and drying more than teak, however, so some checking and splitting can be expected. Note: There are three wood species (not related and with considerably different properties) that we call mahogany--African, Honduran, and Philippine mahogany. Another good choice is a dense species of eucalyptus (mainly from Australia). Common names for two species of lumber are karri and jarrah. Dense red maerranti is another possible choice (Shorea species). Of our native species, we don't have one that stands out as being fully acceptable. Most softwoods are not suitable due to resin exudation or their low strength. Old growth cypress is one possibility. Many hardwoods are prone to checking or are very low in strength. Woods like black locust or Osage orange, which are good candidates, are hard to find, machine with some difficulty, and have high enough shrinkage to cause a little concern about splits. Walnut is a strong possibility, but when wet it might leach a little, causing a person's white pants to become discolored if they sat on wet furniture; same problem with Osage orange. (American chestnut would be a good candidate too; lumber is still available.) Have you considered redesigning the furniture so that you can use a weaker species? Make the pieces under stress a little larger; increase the size of fasteners, etc. If you can do this, then several cedars look like good possibilities, and maybe even redwood. Professor Gene Wengert is Extension Specialist in Wood Processing at the Department of Forestry, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Click on Wood Doctor Archives to peruse past answers. If you would like to obtain a copy of "The Wood Doctor's Rx", visit www.fdmbookstore.bigstep.com for more information.
The comments below were added after this Forum discussion was archived as a Knowledge Base article (add your comment). Comment from contributor A:
Comment from contributor B: White oaks work well, too. Although grain porous, white oak pores are filled with tylose, which stops water from wicking into the wood. The red oaks do not produce tylose and therefore rot quickly. I have seen outdoor furniture 50 years old, made of white oak, and it is still holding up. Why use a tropical exotic, when you can use a local and plentiful wood? Would you like to add information to this article? Interested in writing or submitting an article? Have a question about this article? Have you reviewed the related Knowledge Base areas below? 
|
