Exotic Hardwood Deck

[roblg3]

Basically a deck "resurfacing"
Wood species: Goncalo Alves, "Tigerwood", "Jobillo"
Janka score: 2170
The customer chose the wood and a basic design focused on a central "V".  Previous surface PT 2X material with solid body stain.
Challenges: Out of square, level framing.  Tigerwood glues terribly because it's so water repellent. 
I use mostly Festools: Miter, Circular, Router, Impact, Drill, Domino, Sanders, DE, Jigsaw....
3 Photos of original deck with more to follow

 

[roblg3]

After demo The angle needed to be refigured because there was over 32" of run between supporting joists.  Using 2 16" boards i was able to decrease that angle to 100 degrees and achieve 18" between supports. 
I cut all the boards from long to short to be achieve the beginning piece length.  My original idea was to domino and glue the ends making a tight joint like I have with IPE before.  This wood does not glue well at all and the joints failed.( fix shown later)

 

[roblg3]

Second oops detected...luckily a quick redesign and customer approval created a nice detail.  I turned the too short boards 90 degrees to the V and used loose Sipo Dominoes for end support .

 

[roblg3]

The wood looks great when wet~!

 

[socaljohn]

Great job! The homeowners will certainly be showing off this deck so referrals will follow. [big grin]

 

[PA floor guy]

Great job.  What are you gonna finish it with.  For exotics, I really like the super deck line.  It's a penetrating oil.  I do a lot of braz cherry deck using it.  Every year it simply gets a refresher.  Keeps everything really nice and protected. Very clean look

 

[roblg3]

There's no plans for any finish. When rained on for days, on the very surface gets wet.  Water does not penetrate the long grain.  All ends sealed with log sealer.  I convinced the homeowners to scrap the arches on the pergolas for a more consistent Japanese gate style.

 

[rizzoa13]

I'd just worry about the deck fading faster without any type of finish on it and needing to be resanded more often.

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

It will be silver in 6 months and no matter what you do, those miters will not stay tight.

 

[Tyler Ernsberger]

I would add a penetrating oil.  Penofin makes a product for exotic wood.  Warner is correct it will be silver grey in 6 months. 

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

I would add a penetrating oil.  Penofin makes a product for exotic wood.  Warner is correct it will be silver grey in 6 months.

It's not a bad thing,  I did two large Ipe decks this year and they wanted them to silver out. 

I think they look good silver too. 

Tigerwood has given me the most trouble out of all of them. 

 

[jacko9]

The nice thing about these exotic hardwood decks is after the silver out if you decide to restore it someday it's not that difficult.  Keeping in mine that some-annual or more maintenance is going to be required or you'll go back to silver.  I can never get miters to stay tight with these woods with Red Balau being one of the worst for me.

 

[roblg3]

The neat thing about this wood is that it DARKENS over time turning more red and DOESN'T silver.  I've not had trouble in the past keeping Ipe miters together.  I dunno maybe the dominos, glue and blind screwing make them stay together??  I've jointed lots of hardwood for exterior projects.  Maybe the care I take to wipe the oily wood with acetone and then moisten the end grain before glue-up makes the difference.

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

The neat thing about this wood is that it DARKENS over time turning more red and DOESN'T silver.  I've not had trouble in the past keeping Ipe miters together.  I dunno maybe the dominos, glue and blind screwing make them stay together??  I've jointed lots of hardwood for exterior projects.  Maybe the care I take to wipe the oily wood with acetone and then moisten the end grain before glue-up makes the difference.

Oh, it turns silver give it a year.  I have done everything to miters, dominos, acetone wipe, epoxy, pocket screws, extra screws and plugs, etc.  They will open up. 

 

[roblg3]

thought i should update this

 

[roblg3]

more photos

 

[WelshWood]

Very neat work, bit dark for my liking but looks brilliant none the less!

You mentioned about tigerwood and ipe being a pain to glue which leads to joints opening, have you tried a pocket screw jig?

better than a domino for that kind of joint in my opinion.

~WW