Suitable Timber for outdoor cross and workshop in NSW

[rygar707]

Hi I'm interested to know what would be the best timber to have made a number of memorial crosses. These will be erected outdoors.

Understandably we want these timber crosses to be made from the most suitable and durable timber. Something that looks fabulous and will last as long a time as possible. I’ve heard people say to use Cypress pine others say a local hardwood. Do you have any suggestions?

We would also prefer to have someone make these up for us if we can find a suitable workshop/woodworker. We are located on central coast NSW so anyone on east coast of NSW would be close enough for us to pick up. We expect this will be an ongoing requirement.

Thank you for a great forum.

[Farmer Geoff]

A bit more info would be good - will the crosses be erected in the ground, painted, oiled, attached to a structure? If they are to be in contact with the soil and won't have any finish applied then talk to an experienced local rural fencing contractor who will know the best timber to use. That person can probably also tell you what timber was used locally for power poles, Telstra marking posts, etc which would have been selected for longevity. Best wishes

[rygar707]

Thanks farmer Geoff for your reply. We envisage having them plain timber or with a clear coating on them. We only want one type of timber. Made in batches. The crosses will be installed in multiple locations so we don't want to change the timber type. Its probably best if we could locate an experienced person or workshop that could make these up to our specification but we just wanted to get an idea of the best timber for the job.
Anyone know such an establishment or experienced person to do such for us?

[John Samuel]

Normally I would use cypress in this situation (assuming ground contact).

Here is a link to a page that classifies a group of timbers for durability. Looks like you need class 1.

http://www.timber.net.au/images/down...s_guide_01.pdf

[DSEL74]

How big?

Are they fitted to the facia board, mounted to the wall, stuck in the ground?

As mentioned earlier a bit of info would be need to make a proper suggestion on what may be suitable.

[rygar707]

Thanks for the replies. The timber crosses will be approx 600mm high. Natural looking timber and placed in the ground. There has also been the suggestion we could fix the crosses somehow into a steel stake, but the cross will still be exposed to the weather. We wanted an Australian timber.

Does that help?