Iroko

[Nev Hallam]

I have been offered 15 lengths of Iroko been stored in a covered open sided barn, sizes are 300mm x 120mm x 2750. I made a fire surround from the same wood a year ago, cut the timber to rough sizes at my mates saw mill and left it in my house a month before I machined it up, it since shrank a tiny bit but nothing major, no major splits.
Any ways they want £70 a lenght.
What do you think, worth it or??

 

[Anonymous]

that works at about 700 quid a m/3 and i think the going rate is about 1800 quid a cubic metre, if you have a use for it then its over half price. i'm not a big fan of iroko, but it is a very stable timber if seasoned right.

 

[9fingers]

I was quoted £1000/ cu m ex vat delivered for sawn iroko in 300mm x 30mm a few weeks ago which seemed reasonable to me.

Cu m is a rather large unit for domestic woodworkers with frightening prices!

Your pieces are almost exactly 0.1 cu m each so they are asking £700 per cu m.

Not bad if it is quality timber but not such a fantastically low price that you need to snap it up just in case you need it later.

Bob

 

[wizer]

It seems expensive to me but then all the Iroko I have (a lot) was bought dirt cheap, so I kind of look at it as a secondary wood. It's 'orrible to work with, but actually looks quite nice when finished. I never thought I'd like a mahogany type wood. But, as I say, it can be nice. I wouldn't over use it tho.

 

[dannykaye]

It's the one wood that really gives me an allergic reation, I wear a good dust mask and a face visor and still have problems, hate the stuff. Someone told me it is one of the worst woods for problems...

 

[wizer]

I find it a little sneezy but it doesn't give me any specific issues. But who knows what it's doing long term. I'm glad I now work with a powered respirator.

 

[Max Power]

Just made a set of gates from it and yes the dust is unpleasant but that seems to be the case with a lot of tropical hardwoods.
It finishes really well and of course its ideal for exterior jobs , being one of the most durable timbers

 

[ondablade]

One issue is that it's next to impossible to get any sort of finish to stay on it for longer than a year or so in outdoor conditions....

ian

 

[woodbloke]

It's the one wood that really gives me an allergic reation, I wear a good dust mask and a face visor and still have problems, hate the stuff. Someone told me it is one of the worst woods for problems...

I'm not quite as bad as that with it, but I approach it with caution. The dust is awful, so I always wear a P2 mask if I'm using the stuff - Rob

 

[Steve Maskery]

I've made a fire surround this week out of iroko. Ghastly stuff. I'm glad my sanders have excellent DX and I always use barrier cream, too. I'm making a matching mirror today.

One think to watch is that if it is 120mm thick, what will happen when you resaw it? How will you know what the MC is inside, and what will the movement be like? A board 150mm wide can cup 6mm overnight if it is wet. DAMHIKT.

S

 

[9fingers]

I find it strange that I get no adverse reaction to iroko and yet I have asthma, excema and get hayfever from at least 4 different pollen types.

Bob

 

[Nev Hallam]

All the above is one of the reasons Iroko is easy to identify, I hate working with the stuff it bluntens all my blades, I planed up my fire surround by hand and almost had to re-sharpen my blade every few passes! And yes it stinks like hell causes horrible iroko bogie's, a mask is a must! But I agree a beautiful finish and dense as you like.
With regard to buying the above, it's pretty good quality very straight solid beams, its just works a little tight at the mo and because of this so is the cash flow, I heard around £110 is about the going rate for what he's offering I figure he'll take about £35 a beam which equates to about £500. I'm tempted but won't see the return for months maybe longer. Anyone want to go halves?