Ipe Lumber Supplier

[JJ Wavra]

Hello,

Was wondering if anyone had a recommendation for an ipe wood supplier. I live in northern VA but would not be apposed to shipping.

Looking for 1 by 6 (3/4" by 3.5"), 1 by 4 (3/4" by 5.5"), and 4 by 4 (3.5" by 3.5") material.

Thanks

 

[kevinculle]

I built 3 decks (a biggie, smallish and very small totalling 800 square feet) using ipe supplied by Advantage Lumber.  The quality of the stock was very good, out of probably 300+ boards I only had a couple that were substandard.  Prices are what they are...if you are price conscious ipe may not be for you.  Their delivery times from Buffalo, NY to Metro Detroit, MI were 4 or 5 days by truck freight.
https://www.advantagelumber.com/

 

[ProCarpenterRVA]

advantagelumber.com

It's been a while since I ordered from them but they were very good for service.

There's another company in Portsmouth VA that may be a good fit for you since the shipping is a factor.

Ipewoods.com

I hope you have been working out, those ipe 4x4 are going to be heavy [emoji23]

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

 

[kevinculle]

One thing to keep in mind, boards over 14' long carry a significant jump in per foot pricing making a 15' board much more expensive than a 14'...when I bought about 5 years ago a 14' 1x6 was $53 and a 15' was $70!  It's worth your while to look over your design to minimize the impact of this.  My upper deck is almost 20' wide so I picture framed it and ran a dividing board down the middle so I could use mostly 9' board on the field. that alone probably saved me several thousand dollars and it actually looks better.

 

[bigjonh]

Most of the good lumber yards in the DC (if that’s the NoVA you’re in) area stock some -and can order anything. TW Perry, Loudon Lumber, Johnson’s Lumber L, etc

 

[Bob D.]

One thing to keep in mind, boards over 14' long carry a significant jump in per foot pricing making a 15' board much more expensive than a 14'...when I bought about 5 years ago a 14' 1x6 was $53 and a 15' was $70!  It's worth your while to look over your design to minimize the impact of this.  My upper deck is almost 20' wide so I picture framed it and ran a dividing board down the middle so I could use mostly 9' board on the field. that alone probably saved me several thousand dollars and it actually looks better.

Another option that might help reduce waste would be to use a herringbone pattern. A 14' board would cover a width of about 9 feet allowing for mitering the ends.

The deck below was about 20 years old when this photo was taken in 2011.

 

[JJ Wavra]

Thanks for the recommendations. The wood is going to be for exterior tables that will be very high usage.

 

[Birdhunter]

Please excuse me if you already know this, but my experience with Ipe is that the cut ends will crack quickly if not immediately treated. Also, the Ipe dust can be almost toxic. I always showered as soon as I finished cutting the boards. I used a lot of Domino joint in my Ipe projects. I cleaned the mortises with naphtha before glueing in the tenons. TB3 worked as well as two part epoxy for outdoor. This wood is amazingly hard. I predrilled every hole but still snapped off a 3/8” lag bolt.

 

[kevinculle]

A couple comments:

Ipe will end check if the end grain is left as cut, you can buy a commercial product Ipe Seal to apply to fresh cuts, it goes on white but dries clear and fills the end grain pores effectively.  When working with ipe and threaded fasteners you need to drill holes that will accept threaded fasteners a bit larger than you would softer woods to avoid the potential of fastener breakage.  The rule of thumb for woodscrews and lag bolts is to drill the pilot hole about the same as the root diameter of the thread, for ipe that will make for tough screw driving and risk breaks.  I found that stepping up the pilot hole diameter to match about the mid-height of the thread provides ample holding power while making driving screws much easier and more predictable.  It's worth experimenting on some scraps with your chosen fasteners to select the best drill size.  I also recommend using high quality stainless steel screws with TORX recess heads.