Is IPE decking a sustainable harvested wood material?

No it's definitely not sustainable

Hi Bonniefallahi,

Ipe is one of the most durable and highly coveted woods in the market today. Ipe does come from regions in Brazil and because of this a lot of assumptions are made about the sustainability of it. Ipe can be a sustainable wood product if the correct measures are taken place. Brazil has forced stringent laws that require vast amounts of planning prior to felling of trees.

If you plan on purchasing Ipe for any outdoor project, be sure to do research and find out whether the company is reliable and has good forest management practices.

Bonnie - google is an amazing tool...a couple key woods and you can find articles like such; http://greenpeaceblogs.org/2014/05/15/new-greenpeace-investigation-illegal-timber-brazilian-amazon-sold-world-legal-paperwork/

Not sure how one can say sustainable when the growth cycle is almost 100+ years for IPE to come back to harvest spec. If you were talking Pine, Fir or planation species you can claim sustainable if the rules are followed...but Amazon species are ripe for corruption regardless of the local laws saying otherwise.

Thank you, good information.

Thought I would pop in for my 2 cents.

I fully agree with AdvantageLumber.com Ipe is a great tree and with good practices is a great renewable source for some of the best wood I've ever seen. This is why its so important to know where your wood is coming from and how its being harvested. There are too many brokers and dealers that just want to sell without caring where the wood comes from.

Now, onto Greenpeace. Throughout all the years I've been working with wood, I have yet to find any of Greenpeace's articles credible. They have been caught red handed faking videos and even using photoshop to create false images. Its a horrible thing to do for the sake of donations.

Like Chipsetzer said, Google is an amazing tool for which I found this article as well: http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21603409-how-brazil-became-world-leader-reducing-environmental-degradation-cutting?fsrc=scn/tw_ec/cutting_down_on_cutting_down

There's a lot of research to do before buying any product but don't throw a red flag just because Greenpeace said so. While illegal logging is a problem, there are companies and nations taking the right steps to prevent it.

Our FSC reclaimed, 100% recycled Dinizia is recycled from projects in the United States, and durability is on-par with Ipe! If you want a deck that will last and want to know without a doubt that your decking is sustainably sourced, please get in touch - we would love to help! info@anthologywoods.com

Reclaimed Dinizia:

You can see the proof of prior use in small nail holes & surface checking: