Wood for a garden bench project

[Mike Brady]

The bench immediately above 
  is the identical to the one I want to build.  That wood and finish looks fantastic to me.  Perhaps I should consider an upgrade from cedar, which alone will be over $200 of construction-grade lumber?  

I very much appreciate your replies--extremely helpful.

[jteneyck]

The bench immediately above 
  is the identical to the one I want to build.  That wood and finish looks fantastic to me.  Perhaps I should consider an upgrade from cedar, which alone will be over $200 of construction-grade lumber?  

I very much appreciate your replies--extremely helpful.

I believe I got the inspiration for that bench from an article in FWW.  It think I used about the same side view but stretched the length to fit the available space on my deck.  The author used Spanish Cedar, IIRC and left it natural.  Of course, they never show stuff 5 years later.  Mine looks just about like it did when first built, but after two rehabs I keep it covered now except when I want to use it.  

John

[rectangle618]

The bench immediately above 
  is the identical to the one I want to build.  That wood and finish looks fantastic to me.  Perhaps I should consider an upgrade from cedar, which alone will be over $200 of construction-grade lumber?  

I very much appreciate your replies--extremely helpful.

Mike,
There is a lot of black locust in southwestern Indiana. Our yard was full of it when I lived there. Check with some local sawmills.
Good project.

[jteneyck]

Mike,
There is a lot of black locust in southwestern Indiana.  Our yard was full of it when I lived there.  Check with some local sawmills.
Good project.

And for those who have never used black locust it is a lot more user friendly than what you might believe or have been told.  It processes fine through a straight knife jointer/planer and cuts cleanly with standard carbide tooling.  It has a sort of unctuous (greasy) feel to it, but sands w/o problems.  All in all, it's not hard to work with.  

John

[Phil S.]

...snip... 



...snip...

What did you use for feet on your bench, John?  How are they attached?  Is the joint sealed somehow to prevent water intrusion?

You mention in another post about not using an oil-type finish on open grained wood like white oak.  Why?  What would you recommend for white oak that will be out in all weather, summer and winter?  I'm not overly concerned about keeping it looking new, but would like to keep it from checking or other weathering damage and comfortable to the touch.  I'm thinking of making a gate leg table for the deck and white oak is the only serviceable wood available around here for a reasonable price (~$7/bf).  I can get teak, but it's 6X the cost of oak.

Phil

[jteneyck]

What did you use for feet on your bench, John?  How are they attached?  Is the joint sealed somehow to prevent water intrusion?

You mention in another post about not using an oil-type finish on open grained wood like white oak.  Why?  What would you recommend for white oak that will be out in all weather, summer and winter?  I'm not overly concerned about keeping it looking new, but would like to keep it from checking or other weathering damage and comfortable to the touch.  I'm thinking of making a gate leg table for the deck and white oak is the only serviceable wood available around here for a reasonable price (~$7/bf).  I can get teak, but it's 6X the cost of oak.

Phil

I coated the bottom of the legs with epoxy and then glued on rubber furniture pads with more epoxy.  Film finishes are only as good as the weakest link and I thought this would prevent water from wicking into the legs; so far it's worked great.  

I don't think oil finishes are a good choice on white oak for exactly the reason you mentioned; it won't prevent weathering which will cause the grain to get rough and even splinter and lift, at least that's my concern with flat sawn wood.  Maybe it would be ok if you could get rift sawn wood, but I still favor woods with less tendency to misbehave.  But if white oak is the choice I think I'd finish it with paint, or epoxy sealer plus Epifanes or similar marine varnish for clearcoat.   


John

[Mike Brady]

I really like the qualities and look of the black locust.  The bench shown is identical to the plan I have.  Problem is, the local hardwood dealer in Indy doesn't list locust in their stock list.  I'll give them a call and see if they could find some or tell me where I could go, since my good friend Rectangle says the prospects should be good in my locale.  Road trip!  

Update:  Our local hardwood store does not carry Locust, but they pointed me to a place about 90 minutes away that has it.  What they do have here is cypress, which they stock in 4/4 and 8/4.

[jteneyck]

I really like the qualities and look of the black locust.  The bench shown is identical to the plan I have.  Problem is, the local hardwood dealer in Indy doesn't list locust in their stock list.  I'll give them a call and see if they could find some or tell me where I could go, since my good friend Rectangle says the prospects should be good in my locale.  Road trip!  

Update:  Our local hardwood store does not carry Locust, but they pointed me to a place about 90 minutes away that has it.  What they do have here is cypress, which they stock in 4/4 and 8/4.

I'm not sure the quality of cypress is very good anymore but it would be a LOT lighter than black locust.  Of course it makes little difference if you don't need to move the bench much after it's in place.

[Gary G™]

You might check with Robidecking.com for black locust.