Oak Cockpit grate/flooring?

[davidpm]

Originally Posted by Jeff_H

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.

So what would you suspect the wood was on a 1979 Catalina 30 I just refinished. It looked like teak but was a lot lighter and softer than IPE.

Also what is the wood they sell in milled pieces at West Marine? Again they sell it as teak but it is less that half the weight of IPE?

It is sounding like I've never even seen the real teak you are talking about.

About 30 years ago I worked in a factory in Brookly NY and one of my jobs was to mill blocks of iron wood into guides that were bolted to the sides of the shaft of the commercial elevator to center it at a floor. If I remember correctly it was almost exactly like IPE.

[mitiempo]

I've never found teak to be that hard to work with. In 1970 I worked for a cabinrt maker in North Vancouver who had the contract to do the interiors of Columbia 26 & 34s built under license by Coopers. 95% of the wood we used was Burmese teak and other than being hard on blades it was fine to work with. The other 5% of the wood we used was for a different contract - making shaker frames for the grain elevators. It was some pseudo mahogany that was cheap and stunk when cut. I did and still do like the smell of the teak. Some teak now is coming from plantations in Costa Rica and South America. Westwind Hardwoods my local supplier sells Burmese teak for $30 Cdn a board foot.

[cormeum]

Teak and Ipe are pretty dissimilar:
From the Forest Products laboratory:

Teak:

Weight: Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.55; air-dry density 40 pcf.
Mechanical Properties: (First set of data based on the 2-cm standard; second and third sets on the 2-in. standard; third set plantation-grown in Honduras.)
Moisture content Bending strength Modulus of elasticity Maximum crushing strength
(%) (Psi) (1,000 psi) (Psi)
Green (17) 12,200 1,280 6,210
11% 15,400 1,450 8,760
Green (38) 10,770 1,570 5,470
14% 12,300 1,710 6,830
Green (81) 9,940 1,350 4,780
13% 13,310 1,390 6,770

Janka side hardness 1,000 to 1,155 lb for dry material. Forest Products Laboratory toughness 116 in.-lb average for green and dry wood (5/8-in. specimen

Ipe:
Weight: Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.85 to 0.97; air- dry density 66 to 75 pcf.

Mechanical Properties: (First and third sets of data based on the 2-in. standard, the second on the 1-in. standard.)
>>
Moisture content Bending strength Modulus of elasticity Maximum crushing strength
(%) (Psi) (1,000 psi) (Psi)>>
Green (73) 22,560 2,920 10,350
12% 25,360 3,140 13,010
>>
12% (24) 25,200 3,010 14,000
>>
12% (44) 28,000 3,350 NA
>>
Janka side hardness 3,060 lb for green material and 3,680 lb at 12% moisture content. Forest Products Laboratory toughness average for green and dry material is 404 in.-lb. (5/8-in. specimen).

Ipe is about twice as heavy (and twice as stong) as Teak (Tectona Grandis). Note that the "green" plantation grown teak is significantly weaker than the (old growth) standard. Ipe is more consistent.
They're both silica rich woods.

Here's Angelique:
Weight: Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.65; air-dry density 50 pcf.

Mechanical Properties: (2-in. standard)
>>
Moisture content Bending strength Modulus of elasticity Maximum crushing strength
(%) (Psi) (1,000 psi) (Psi)>>
Green (74) 11,410 1,840 5,590
12% 17,390 2,190 8,770
>>
Janka side hardness 1,100 lb. for green material and 1,290 lb. at 12% moisture content. Forest Products Laboratory toughness average for green and air-dry material is 151 in.-lb. (5/8-in. specimen). (More similar to T. Grandis mechanically)

[mintcakekeith]

Iroko is a good substitute for teak although not as stable.finish it with danish oil .K