[Jeff_H]

A couple quick follow ups to points raised earlier:

Petmac: I did a bit of homework on the Juniper Cedar question and of course you are exactly right that Juniper is actually an Eastern Red Cedar, but in southern US boat yards, they would often strip plank boats with a wood that they called Juniper Cedar and that wood which I have worked with was not a red or aromatic cedar. As near as I was ever able to ascertain it was an Atlantic White Cedar. At least in one yard, I was shown the order for the planking that showed it labeled as White Cedar even though the boatyard called it Juniper Cedar. I have always concluded that Juniper cedar was a Florida and Georgia nick-name for Atlantic White Cedar.

Whatever it was, it was a surprisingly hard wood for a cedar, much harder than western red or the aromatic cedars. It held paint well, and if sealed with epoxy and painted, I would expect it to hold up well as a deck grate or table.

DavidPm;

Genuine Brurma teak (Tectona Grandis) is about as hard and difficult to work with as Ipe and generally is heavier than water as well. I only mentioned Ipe since the OP had said that he considered using teak but it was too expensive.

Like Ipe, genune Teak contains a lot of silica which can quickly dull cutting tools.

What confuses this issue is the availability of psuedo-teaks (such as Angelique which is often marketed as South American Teak), which appears to be teak and are sold as teak but which are much softer and easier to work than geniune teak. It is also possible to encounter farm grown teak sapwood which can be softer and easier to work than the Teak heartwood which is the normal teak used for marine purposes.

Mahogany or spanish cedar would make reasonable species for the proposed purposes as well. '

Jeff