Ipe Alternatives: 7 Similar Types of Wood

Ipe Alternatives: 7 Similar Types of Wood

Handyman's World is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

If you like ipe wood, but you can’t find it, there are plenty of alternatives to consider. Today, we want to find out what some of the best of these are. What you are quickly going to find out is that ipe is one of the hardest and most durable types of wood out there, so finding similar varieties is not as easy as one would like to think.

Finding different types of wood that can contend with ipe is not easy, but there are a few which may make for suitable alternatives, so let’s take a look.

What Makes for a Good Ipe Substitute?

What you need to know about ipe wood is that it is by far one of the strongest types of wood, and this is true in virtually all ways. It has an extremely high Janka hardness rating of 3,510 lbf, a very high modulus of rupture of 25,660 lbf per square inch, a crushing strength of 13,600 lbf per square inch, and a modulus of elasticity of 3,200,000 lbf per square inch.

It’s also quite heavy, coming in at 69 lbs per cubic foot. When it comes to all five of those categories, ipe ranks very highly and is often in the top five of all types of wood in the world. As you can see, finding good alternatives is going to take a bit of searching, but it is doable.

7 Ipe Alternatives

We have a few good alternatives to ipe wood for you to look at, so let’s do that right now.

Gaboon Ebony

One of the top contenders as a good substitute to ipe wood is ebony, also known as Nigerian ebony, African ebony or Cameroon ebony. This is a very solid type of hardwood that grows in Equatorial West Africa.

The reason why it makes such a good contender as a replacement for ipe is that all of the statistics are relatively close. That said, ebony still doesn’t rival ipe in any of those categories, but it does come close.

For instance, it features a Janka hardness rating of 3,080 lbf, modulus of rupture of 22,930 lbf per square inch, modulus of elasticity of 2,449,000 lbf per square inch, crushing strength of 11,060 lbf per square inch, with an average dried weight of 60 lbs per cubic foot. There is of course also the fact that this is one of the most beautiful types of wood out there.

Hard Maple

If you are looking for a domestic hardwood that makes for a good substitute for ipe, hard maple, otherwise known as sugar maple or rock maple, makes for a good alternative as well.

This wood features a crushing strength of 7,830 lbf per square inch, a modulus of elasticity of 1,830,000 lbf per square inch, a modulus of rupture of 15,800 lbf per square inch, a Janka hardness rating of 1,450 lbf, and an average dry weight of 44 lbs per cubic foot.

As you can see, maple really doesn’t come close to the numbers that ipe features. However, as far as North American domestic hardwoods go, it is one of the top contenders.

Cherrybark Oak

Of the roughly two dozen species of oak tree out there, the cherrybark oak is by far the strongest, so this is what we think would be a good alternative to ipe. This is a type of hardwood tree that can be found all throughout the eastern United States, and many people love it due to its reddish-brown color.

The cherrybark oak features a crushing strength of 8,740 lbf per square inch, a modulus of elasticity of 2,280,000 lbf per square inch, a modulus of rupture of 18,100 lbf per square inch, a Janka hardness rating of 1,480 lbf, and an average dried weight of 49 lbs per cubic foot.

Olivewood

Another good type of wood to consider here is olive, also known as olivewood. This is a type of hardwood that grows in eastern Africa and Europe, and yes, here we are talking about the tree that olives grow on. This is going to be one of the top contenders as far as alternatives to ipe goes. The numbers really do speak for themselves.

For instance, this wood features a modulus of rupture of 22,530 lbf per square inch, a modulus of elasticity of 2,577,000 lbf per square inch, a crushing strength of 11,180 lbf per square inch, a Janka hardness rating of 2,700 lbf, and an average dried weight of 62 lbs per cubic foot.

Mockernut Hickory

This specific type of hickory can be found all throughout the eastern United States. As far as North America is concerned, this variety is one of the hardest and most durable out there, therefore making it a good contender as an alternative to ipe wood.

This wood features a crushing strength of 8,940 lbf per square inch, a modulus of rupture of 19,200 lbf per square inch, a modulus of elasticity of 2,220,000 lbf per square inch, a Janka hardness rating of 1,970 lbf, and an average dried weight of 51 lbs per cubic foot.

Snakewood

Here we have the type of wood that is certainly going to give ipe a run for its money. This is an extremely strong hardwood that grows along the coastal regions of North-East South America. Snakewood is a very rare type of wood, but also one of the best. let’s let the numbers speak for themselves.

Snakewood features a crushing strength of 17,260 lbf per square inch, a modulus of rupture of 28,270 lbf per square inch, a modulus of elasticity of 3,364,000 lbf per square inch, a Janka hardness rating of 3,800 lbf, and an average dried weight of 75 lbs per cubic foot. In case you hadn’t noticed, snakewood outclasses ipe in all five of these categories.

Black Ironwood

Black ironwood is another top contender as an alternative to ipe. It features a crushing strength of 9,940 lbf per square inch, a modulus of rupture of 18,200 lbf per square inch, a modulus of elasticity of 2,966,000 lbf per square inch, a Janka hardness rating of 3,660 lbf, and an average dried weight of 84 lbs per cubic foot.

What Type of Wood Is the Most Similar to Ipe?

If you need something that can rival ipe in terms of the five main categories we looked at today (hardness, density, modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity, and compressive strength), then it is snakewood that makes for the best alternative.

Summary

If you are looking for the number one top contender as an alternative to ipe, we think that snakewood is probably your best bet.