What is best outdoor wood
Selecting Wood for Outdoor Structures
you know certain woods are excellent for
building outdoor structures find out
which one's work best in this video
here's a selection of woods based on
cost availability and ease of use we all
know white pine are common wood it's
inexpensive and it's very easy to work
but as we mentioned before it doesn't
hold up well outdoors without a regular
coat of paint or varnish now I'm going
to show you some woods that hold up well
outdoors without the need of a coating
such as paint this is white oak not to
be confused with the red oak white oak
is easy to get and it's relatively
inexpensive it's a beautiful wood so I
recommend using a clear varnish to cover
it and protect the beauty two things to
keep in mind it's heavy and dense or
hard so you'll need sharp tools to work
white oak and being so dense your
furniture will be heavy here's a piece
of Redwood beautiful wood holds up great
outdoors redwood is moderately
inexpensive then it's pretty easy to
come by and you'll appreciate the fact
that it's a softwood so it's very easy
to work with and this is Cypress known
as white red or black Cypress each color
describing the color of its heartwood
like redwood it's a softwood so it's
relatively easy to work by hand and one
thing to keep in mind is that Cypress
has a tendency to split so make sure you
pre bore your holes for your fasteners
before driving them into the wood then
there's a family of cedars this is
yellow cedar there's also a white cedar
which works well outdoors yellow cedar
comes from the Northwest where by
tradition the Native Americans there
have used it to carve totem poles and
canoes and it's an excellent wood for
outdoor projects particularly decks
it's moderately expensive but its cousin
white cedar is less expensive this is a
wonderful wood from Australia called
Jarrah to preserve the rich color of
Jarrah you can use a UV inhibitor in
your finish which is an ultra violet and
hit or you'll see it named on the cam
when you buy the finish Jarrah is
moderately expensive and it's dense like
white oak so again you'll need sharp
blades and cutters
when you're sawing the wood the dust
from jar can be an irritant when
especially when you're sawing and
routing so make sure you wear your dust
mask and if you can work in a
well-ventilated area here we have some
teak which you'll find in commercial
outdoor benches teak is expensive but
it's available in wide boards and it
weathers to a nice silver gray color it
also takes fasteners very well because
of natural silica or sand deposits in
the wood itself it will dull tools
quickly so make sure you use carbide
bits and blades
another thing about Teague is its oily
nature it's best to wipe down joints
prior to gluing with lacquer thinner or
some acetone to remove these natural
oils last we have mahogany one of my
favorite outdoor woods it has a
wonderful color and grain that's well
worth preserving with a clear finish
such as varnish mahogany is a moderately
expensive wood but it's available in
wide widths and even though it's a
hardwood it's relatively easy to work by
hand it's a very stable hardwood and it
also stays exceptionally smooth outdoors
which is great for your furniture don't
be fooled by this piece of wood which is
sometimes called Philippine mahogany
it's actually luan which is not a good
grade of exterior wood and it doesn't
have the working properties genuine true
mahogany
