Thanks for all of the suggestions. I have a local source for sapele, and may go
with that, but have a slight worry about skin sensitivity.

Black locust sounds like a wonderful option, and I will need to see if a local
source has availability and do some pricing.

Ipe is a third choice, as I have no good source locally and the difficult
workability.

Any concern for any of these in large area contact with wrought iron? Are any of
these impractical to work with hand planes for shaping, hollows and rounds for
detail? The rail is iron (flat top) and the wood will be applied to the top for
appearance and surface feel.


(progress is a bit behind as the concrete I am mounting to is has quartz, or
similar, aggregate and will require wet abrasive boring, and I got called back
to work, so fitup is now spare time if I can find any, once I call in a favour
to bore for mounting studs. Oh well)

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