Uses for Brazilian Ipe

Add Pee and make some nice pipes!

Drew

Cut a slot down it for plate display, mount it somewhere the light picks up the beauty of the wood. Finish to complement the room.

Make an electric guitar body (or bodies) out of it. Go thick and keep joints away from the neck attachment. Even better make the neck and the center section of the body out of one piece of 2X4, and then fill out the body with additional pieces. Keepling the neck and body one piece helps the sustain of the guitar.

Actually on a serious note, you might not want to use it to make pipes because resins in the wood might be dangerous. I had some ebony wood that is super hard and I used it to make jewelry. I cut out shapes and inlaid silver wire, adding a touch of superglue to secure it.

I assume you are a woodworker, I might make a small box or picture frame. Just make sure your tools are sharp and feed the wood in slowly. When I cut that ebony wood, it was like cutting a 3 inch block of solid resin. And I would wear a good dustmask unless you can find out positively that it is non toxic.

Drew K

It would be nice to play around a bit with this, trying a few finishes. Hand-rubbed oil (e.g., Watco), topped with carnauba wax, will give a semi-matte and quite natural-looking finish. For a classic shiny finish, consider French polish (linseed oil plus shellac). Probably skip polyurethane coatings; they may have their place as tabletop finishes, but are not quite the ticket in fine woodworking. It all depends on what you are trying to do.

During my years in the Navy I had a hobby wood shop in my garage, and built some fairly nice pieces, sometimes with some rather exotic woods. For the most part I found that the best possible finish was tung oil and wax. Though with a wood this hard and dense, you might need a somewhat thinner oil to get adequate penetration.

The basic rule I used for finishing was to hand sand to at least 1200 grit to get a mirror-like finish on the wood itself, and then oil according to the rule of twos. Oil twice a day for a week, twice a week for a month, twice a month for a year, and twice a year ever thereafter. And, once you've gotten past that first six weeks or so, a good grade of paste wax, hand rubbed, between oilings.

The most important thing though, is to make sure that you have a truly excellent surface finish on the wood itself before you begin applying oil or varnish or whatever you choose to use. This piece of hardwood deserves the utmost of craftsmanship.

You make it into a longbow, back it with Ash or Hickory to stop it exploding.
It makes a fine fast bow.
You could machine it, but I prefer hand tools, I've not used it myself but many comercial longbows are made of this. Check out the Primitive Archer' website.
Del

This sounds similar to some hardwoods (real HARDwoods) available in the tropics- here in Panama we have Coco Bolo and Purple Heart (an absolutely gorgeous wood), and some woods that are supposedly in the Cherry family (I think Coco Bolo may fall in to this group). The local indigenous peoples carve this wood with knifes, but the more sophisicated woodworkers will use carbide tools. I would expect this wood would eat conventional planer blades, unless you seriously limit the depth of cut...

I've worked with both coco bolo and purple heart. to Me I think coco bolo is the more beutiful of the two.

oilcan13

I built a deck in New England out of Ipe. The edge grained cedar I used previously lasted 20 years before beginning to rot. The Ipe has been on for about 15 years and looks like new. It weathers to a silver gray, but my wife wanted another color so I finished it with Cabot's Australian Timber Oil. The finish sticks and doesn't peel or flake. Ipe is very dense, so the finish doesn't penetrate but sits on the surface and is subject to wear. I have to go over it every 3 years, but this can be done with a sponge applicator and doesn't take much time. Ipe is also very good for exterior stair treads. It is used by the Audubon Society for some of their elevated nature trails in hot damp places (like Florida) and seems to stand up exceptionally well. They claim it is harvested in an ECO friendly manner. I happen to be attracted to fancy grain for my exhibition wood projects. All the Ipe I have seen is straight grain and not particularly attractive, but it sure is wear resistant and dimensionally stable.

here are some specs on Ipe.

http://www.ipedepot.com/techinfo.htm

Check out some of the info (Google, for example) on hardness and uses of Philippine hardwoods.

Or there again, you could make a bow out of it.
Del

Listen to Del. Build a bow.......

Don't be Cross- build a -Bow!!

Ipe is a commonly available imported species used primarily for exterior decking - also used for barns, boat decks, fencing, exterior moulding, etc. It is very rot, decay and insect resistant and is known as an economical alternative to teak or redwood for decks. The available lumber is plantation grown from sustainable sources so it is also seen as an environmentally responsible choice. Not much good for fine furniture because it's not particularly attractive. OK color, but just not very interesting in its grain and overall look, and doesn't take a finish well. I have a few board feet that someone gave me. I've experimented with it on the lathe, and with some small pieces and learned quickly why it is used for decks. As a plantation grown lumber it is grown fast which yields wide rings and the resulting boring grain.

Bow to Del.

I'm not familiar with ipe, but Australians have experience with very dense timbers. The majority of our hardwoods have a s.g. greater than 1 (Cooktown ironbark comes in at 1.5!).

Generally you take fairly small cuts with a planer and there is no problem. You can't bite into it like you can with pine.

It will probably polish to a fine surface finish.

Unless it has a high silica content (like many wattles) it shouldn't be unduly hard on your tools, as most tools are carbide tipped.

It strikes me it might make a decent cudgel?