# What/How are you guys cutting ipe?



## CB_Cohick

I have some 2×6 ipe cutoffs I am trying to find some uses for. Just messing around, I was squaring up the edges of my cutoffs to get a feel for the material. Holy smokes is this stuff hard! My saw blade was getting close to needing sharpening before. It is dead dull now. How do you folks cut your ipe? What tools do you use? What tools and/or accessories do you not use?

Thanks,


----------



## JollyGreen67

Send all you have to me - I'll figure something out!


----------



## wormil

Don't bother with anything but carbide. Carbon steel blades will cut it but you'll have to sharpen them after. I ruined a brand new bandsaw blade playing around with this stuff. Ipe will reset your definition of 'hard'.


----------



## gfadvm

I have cut, resawed, and routed a fair amount of Ipe using: Freud Diablo 24 tooth blade on the TS, Timberwolf blades on the BS (non carbide), and Whiteside router bits. It seemed to play well with all these cutters. I am pretty anal about keeping all my cutters CLEAN and sharp.


----------



## jerryminer

Ipe is just nasty. Hard, resinous, and with a high silica content (like cutting through sand)-- it dulls blades. Just have to face it.


----------



## johnstoneb

http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/ipe/

Workability: Overall, Ipe is a difficult wood to work, being extremely hard and dense, with high cutting resistance during sawing. Ipe also has a pronounced blunting effect on cutting edges. The wood generally planes smoothly, but the grain can tearout on interlocked areas. Also, Ipe can be difficult to glue properly, and surface preparation prior to gluing is recommended. Straight-grained wood turns well, though the natural powdery yellow deposits can sometimes interfere with polishing or finishing the wood.


----------



## wormil

It does turn well, with carbide tools. You can cut it with steel but you'll be sharpening every couple minutes. The good thing is that even carbide produces a nice surface since the wood is so hard and doesn't tear easily.


----------



## Stewbot

We did a handful of large Ipe decks in San Fransisco and San Diego and probably used 1-3 blades, (Freud Diablo blades and Freud router bits) per job, depending on the amount of details. The decks turned out great ( and must have cost the client a fortune….stainless steel screws at about $100/5Lbs ) but thinking back on them brings back aggravating memories of trying to manipulate that stuff into parallel spacing, and don't even get me started on that feeling of snapping screws in the stuff.

Have you worked with tiger wood? (I don't know if there is a more legitimate term for it, but I've only heard it called tiger wood) It seems to have many similiar qualities as Ipe, but with very elaborate colors, predominately orange with black accents. anyway it's seems a bit easier on the blades and bits etc. and looks great.


----------



## CB_Cohick

> I have cut, resawed, and routed a fair amount of Ipe using: Freud Diablo 24 tooth blade on the TS, Timberwolf blades on the BS (non carbide), and Whiteside router bits. It seemed to play well with all these cutters. I am pretty anal about keeping all my cutters CLEAN and sharp.
> 
> - gfadvm


I noticed your mention of a 24 tooth blade on your TS. Thinking about it, it seems logical that the 24 tooth count might be advantageous for very dense wood. Something more like a rip blade than say a crosscut blade.


----------



## abie

Hard Hard and nasty on your lungs 
you cannot glue this stuff 
use only screws or Epoxy..


----------



## gfadvm

Chris, That's my thinking. And I use a 2-3 TPI on the bandsaw to resaw.

I've read about the gluing problems, but Titebond 2 has worked for me and no acetone wipe before gluing.


----------



## wormil

I haven't had any problems using wood glue but the stuff I have has been around a few years.


----------



## EPJartisan

I use Ipe all the time… table sleds… candle sticks… a bathroom vanity…. I love the stuff. It carves really well and I have no problem with glue ups. There are about 20 species from both the Tabebuia and Handroanthus genus…. so the color, and workability has a small variety, but they all suit the same purposes for us. I use a Freud Diablo 44t for cutting it. Not so bad if you don't let the resin gum build on the blades and take shallow cuts. It is the friction heat that starts to take the cutting edge down so fast. But yeah, compared to walnut.. it dulls edges really fast. I have used 2 part epoxy, hide glue, and tight bond 3…. epoxy kinda works better if you use alcohol first and the hide glue with a bit of water. I love it because it is so stable and it smells great… but yes the dust is bad for you… really bad for you.


----------



## jerryminer

> ... and it smells great… - EPJartisan


It's in the nose of the beholder, I guess!


----------



## bigblockyeti

High yield det cord.


----------



## jaswl

W. L. Fuller Inc manufactures an IPE countersink with matching plugs cutters. So far the only thing on the marker locals have found 500-1000 holes before resharpening


----------



## jacksdvds

I didn't realize I should have had more problems with Ipe than I did I have made several segmented turnings where it cut beautifully, glued without exception and turned with HSS and carbide. The only problem I encountered came when a ring was dropped, especially flat, It would shatter at the joints. I thought it was just a bad glue joint. Now I will begin to have all sorts of problems with the remaining Ipe in my stock pile. Thanks guys, before I was dumb and happy. NOW just dumb!


----------

