Driveway gates - Part 2 - Wood selection

A big pile of stickered Iroko acclimatising in the shop

I decided to use a durable timber for the main frame of the gates. The timber I chose was Iroko from West Africa. It has similar properties to Teak in that it is rot resistant, resistant to insect attack, stable and durable.

Iroko Sealed
Picture from The Wood Database

It is also quite hard on the Janka scale (1,260 lbf) so might be suitable for a future workbench. However it is also very hard on tooling. There can be pockets of calcium carbonate in the wood and this has a blunting effect on tools.

I ordered 9 boards of 10" x 4/4 x 9 1/2 feet (250 x 25 x 2950mm) and 4 boards of 10" x 8/4 x 8 feet (250 x 50 x 2450mm) and they were delivered after a long delay (the supplier was inept and I will think twice about using them again). This is sufficient for all four doors and I have included a 25% to 30% contingency.

I have the boards on the floor of the shop at the moment to let them acclimatize.

4/4 and 8/4 Iroko stock and some premilled WRC T&G 

A few of the milled uprights for the gates made from 8/4 Iroko