Bremner
Established Member
Hello,
I've got a job to do for a customer which originally required me to make a lutyens style garden bench from solid teak with a round plaque on the back with the customers design cut in. Sounded good at first until I researched how much teak cost and had to have a lie down to get over the shock!
Whilst I was looking for the teak I came across lutyens benches made from solid teak costing far, far less than what I could buy the timber for, so I contacted the customer and let him decide between me making the bench, at great cost or buying a ready made bench and customising it to receive the plaque.
Wisely he decided that customising a ready made bench made more financial sense and now here is the problem, I can't find a suitable piece of teak to make the plaque from at a decent price, hardwood suppliers are very thin on the ground in Greater Manchester and internet prices seem very, very high for such a small piece. The size I need is around an inch thick and about 14 inches square or 3 pieces 5 inches wide by 14 inches so I can glue up to make the size I require.
The piece is eventually going to be engraved using a friends CNC and then I'll mount it to the back rest of the bench.
I've read that iroko is sometimes mistaken for teak but I've also read that teak fades to grey with age and iroko browns with age?!? Would I get away with substituting the teak with iroko?
Any suggestions of where I can pick up some suitable pieces would be appreciated, I've tried eBay but it looks like joe bloggs gets a slab of hardwood and assumes its worth hundreds of pounds, some workshops are selling offcuts but they are to small or to thin.
Cheers, Andy.
I've got a job to do for a customer which originally required me to make a lutyens style garden bench from solid teak with a round plaque on the back with the customers design cut in. Sounded good at first until I researched how much teak cost and had to have a lie down to get over the shock!
Whilst I was looking for the teak I came across lutyens benches made from solid teak costing far, far less than what I could buy the timber for, so I contacted the customer and let him decide between me making the bench, at great cost or buying a ready made bench and customising it to receive the plaque.
Wisely he decided that customising a ready made bench made more financial sense and now here is the problem, I can't find a suitable piece of teak to make the plaque from at a decent price, hardwood suppliers are very thin on the ground in Greater Manchester and internet prices seem very, very high for such a small piece. The size I need is around an inch thick and about 14 inches square or 3 pieces 5 inches wide by 14 inches so I can glue up to make the size I require.
The piece is eventually going to be engraved using a friends CNC and then I'll mount it to the back rest of the bench.
I've read that iroko is sometimes mistaken for teak but I've also read that teak fades to grey with age and iroko browns with age?!? Would I get away with substituting the teak with iroko?
Any suggestions of where I can pick up some suitable pieces would be appreciated, I've tried eBay but it looks like joe bloggs gets a slab of hardwood and assumes its worth hundreds of pounds, some workshops are selling offcuts but they are to small or to thin.
Cheers, Andy.
