Sapele Wood For Outdoor Use

Composites have no defects and do not compress like wood.

Sapele wood for outdoor use. The finish is a 1 2 punch consisting of an epoxy sealer and a marine varnish. Because it will be used in exterior drying is not an issue. This strips the tannins from the wood opening up the surface to fully accept a stain. The stain varnish applied to your sapele may be blistering because it was never treated with a stripper prior to applying the stain.

Ipe has great resistance to decay and insects. This density poses special problems for fastening and movement. A lot of timber is chemically treated to prevent rot but some woods have superior natural rot resistance and can be used outdoors without chemical treatment. The stain will actually reduce the shimmer in the ribbon figure making it dull because it mainly stays on top of the wood.

With supplies of north american mahogany dwindling more woodworkers are turning to sapele as a substitute wood for use in furniture and musical instruments. Additionally sapele grows with an interlocking grain pattern where the fibers twist around the tree as they grow. Because the wood was in such bad shape and i didn t want a high gloss finish two additional products were added to the lineup. Later today i will use wood filler to repair where i ve had to remove rotten wood.

Rich heartwood colored in golden and dark reddish brown is perfect for use in creating expensive furniture musical and specialty objects. Sapele does have very good insect and decay resistance heartwood not sapwood. Choosing the right wood for outdoor projects natural wood is a great choice for adding warmth and texture to your garden. Instead if you want to color the wood use this simple process.

In short the goal is to use epoxy to seal the wood fibers and essentially make them impervious to liquids. Sapele wood is of medium hardness with a janka rating of 1510 lbs making is harder than most domestic north american species and almost twice as hard as genuine mahogany. To add color to sapele with a stain you don t want to apply an oil pigment stain straight to the raw wood. Some make use of recycled material but all are rotproof.

Utile or sipo is a kissing cousin of sapele same genus same properties roughly. Same as mahogany exploitation of sapele forests are regulated by several countries across africa. Sapele is a hardwood from tropical africa that successfully emulates the characteristics that have made mahogany so popular. I do not want to paint it but rather leave the natural wood finish.

Any recommendations the wood is quite exposed. Sharing the same botanical family as american and african mahogany sapele is an attractive wood with satisfactory working characteristics and an economical price point that should entice. Sapele mahogany should be cleaned with a trisodium phosphate solution before applying any stain.