Fruits Of My Labor (A-113)

[ebb]

Tony,
I've got some Ipe that I milled for caprail for the toerail-arks on litlgull, didn't like the profile, (another story..)
They are quite thin and have just been hanging around - totally unchanged - under the boat.
They aren't cracked, broken, bent, split, haven't changed color much either.

Next door on the farm here they have an unshaded deck made from Ipe - 4X4s for the railends - steps... it all recently has been professionally oiled to give the painter some income. But the oil in recent rains I swear has washed off! Nothing soaks into ipe, it has no pores.
But the decking grayed to a light bleached tone and showed the slightest shrinking and weathering imaginable for a totally eposed wood. No splits and the smallest shortest non-connecting surface cracks I've seen. For the time it's been there, 5 or 6 years maybe more, teak would have fried and summer wood caved, and the surface would have had to be sanded to be saved.

Except for the color the Ipe is essentially unchanged since it was put down.

Ipe loves water, is perfect for the marine environment, doesn't rot, doesn't mold stain, nothing eats it. It's other name is ironwood and has the brown tone of teak when kept bright and varnished, and looks like classic teak when gray. Ipe is FOUR times harder than teak, and twice as hard as oak.

I'm still going to use it on the boat for the rub rail, partial caprails in the bow, coaming caps and samson post. It is a filthy wood to mill and rout. It's only bad side. It's harder than hell but tools beautifully. All Ipe on litlgull will be left bare.
I think Ipe is the wood you could use BARE, no maintenance, on your topsides rubrail. And you might give it some thought for your bulwarks.
Your guy might have it if he supplies material for decks. I found a local that has different plank thicknesses.
So you could get your rubrail out of a single thickness - wouldn't consider gluing this stuff, maybe the scarf joint w/ resorcinol, but haven't looked into that.
I bet that's the stuff you've been looking for.