Front Door Trim #4: Ipe threshold

nice job on the threshhold dan , ive made a few of them about the same way . did you put a weatherstrip on it ?

No, haven’t done the weatherstripping yet. The fit against the threshold is pretty snug, but I do need to do something about the door in general. I need to make a Home Despot or OSH run today ‘cause I need a pocket screw jig and a 1/2” router bit (to cut slots for the drawer bottoms), I’ll have to get that checked off my list too.

-- Dan Lyke, Petaluma California, http://www.flutterby.net/

the way i made mine is i ran it thru the table saw and left a slot the width of the blade where it meets the door . the reg. weatherstripping that goes around the door slippes into the slot . they sell the replacement striping at h depot for like 5 dollars and i just cut them to lenth . probly wont work for you since the threshhold is already down

Looking great.

-- Retired in Delaware

Nice work, good I can’t smell it from my house….

I made mine from Ipe too. It’s been down for about ten years now along with the ipe decking on the porch. Tough stuff and looks good too. I don’t know about the oil though, what exactly did you use? I used oil on mine when I first put it down and after a year it still hadn’t dried and had to scour it off. Yuck! Anyway, the decking is still unfinished and has weathered to a slight gray which I like because when it gets wet it turns chocolate brown. The threshold is finish sanded to 400 grit and wiped with Teak Oil a couple of times a year so it stays chocolate. The missus is pleased and that counts for a lot.

As for weatherstrip, I ran the threshold over the table saw blade canted to apx. 75 degrees so I could slip in a piece of vinyl weatherstripping from the Big Box store making it easy to replace when worn. In hindsight, I would probably install the stripping to the bottom of the door and leave the threshold smooth. Oh well.

always,
J.C.

-- "Imagination is more important than knowledge" -- Albert Einstein

I used Penofin for hardwoods, the same thing I’ve used for the rest of the exterior exposed wood trim, and the door. So far (a few months), I’ve been really pleased. Dries to the touch after not too long, still looking good, although this stuff is on the north side of the house.

-- Dan Lyke, Petaluma California, http://www.flutterby.net/

What is Ipe? and why use it over, say, oak?

Ipe’s a super hard and dense tropical wood. I believe the chunk I cut this from is dense enough that it’d sink in water (ie: like ebony, but with a little more grain and splintering). Fire resistance wise, its ratings are similar to concrete. As for why to use it? I got it from a local high end deck place as a “second” or scrap for an extremely cheap price, I think the color goes fairly nicely with the Massaranduba trim and Honduran(?) Mahogany door and Peruvian Mahogany interior baseboards, it’s a lot denser and harder than red oak so it should wear better (in my experience red oak for threshold and stair edges wears too much), and since the interior floor is white oak and I wanted something that contrasted… well… that wrote off white oak.

I think we’re going to use white oak for the interior door and window trim, though, but right now that’s on the back burner while I do the maple and mahogany kitchen.

-- Dan Lyke, Petaluma California, http://www.flutterby.net/

Thanks for the info about Ipe Dan. Ok, I see why you used it. I thought maybe this was some sort of product I had never heard of ( well, in fact it was a hardwood I had never heard of it). I suppose this might be equivalent to the Kwila or Jarrah that might be available for us here in the deep south, though I wouldn’t be in favor of using those anymore since much of it comes from illegal logging.

It’s a really great looking entrance, though!