Wood selection for outdoor chairs

[HCJtractor]

Built mine with Ipe. But very heavy and a difficult wood to work. Teak is best but very expensive. Same for mahogany . I vote for cypress and next choice, western red cedar .

 

[Scooby074]

Solid PVC Plastic and never touch them again. Going on 3 years now, very hostile environment (salt, wind) and no problems.

 

[ddbackhoe]

ddbackhoe.

That is beautiful! Is it cedar after the West epoxy and varnish?

Thanks. That will be the back for a bench I'm putting together. It's a 2" slab of white pine. Locally, it is really tough to find a cedar that isn't full of nails, staples or fencing.

 

[Mike68]

You could also consider mixing wood species. Ipe is very rot resistant, but heavy and difficult to work with. How about that for the legs (ground contact). You could then use Cedar for the seat and back to lighten the chair up a bit. With the right mix of woods it might also provide for a nice visual appearance.

Ipe reacts poorly with iron so you need to use stainless fasteners.

 

[dstig1]

Lots of good woods to use, but the only one on your list is the red cedar. Some have mentioned white oak. It has limited rot resistance in my experience. Red oak has none, and WO is better, but still not really an exterior wood. A hierarchy:

Teak
Ipe
Cypress (old growth is much better than new growth but impossible to find unless reclaimed)
Spanish Cedar
Red Cedar
Treated wood

There are others I am sure. Local availability varies. I have never seen cypress lumber locally, for example.

The lighter woods have their pros/cons: Easier to move the chair, but then they are easier to blow around in a storm. Pick yer poison. You can't beat Teak, but it is expensive and hard to work with. Plus heavy, if that matters to you. There is a company around here that makes outdoor furniture from recycled milk bottles (HDPE) and other additives, which are really nice and durable, but heavy ( again - depends what you think about that...)

My $0.02