teak

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NOTE: there are at least 60 species from over 2 dozen genera that have "teak" as all or part of one or more of their common names. Although this page is primarily for Tectona grandis ("genuine teak"), I may put other teaks (specifically identified) here if and when I encounter them.

NOTE: there is rarely any "standard" or "typical" look for a wood so take what's in this table with a grain of salt
the REST of the pictures on this page will give you a better overall feel for this wood

teak / Tectona grandis **
(syn. Tectona theca)
also Tectona hamiltoniana and Tectona philippinensis,
both of which are Philippine teak
5" x 5" flat cut, 5" x 5" quartersawn, 3/4" wide end grain, and a 1/4" x 1/4" end grain closeup.

Usually Ring porous with large earlywood pores in rows of up to 4 or 5 pores thick and medium to small latewood pores. Occasional pore multiples (generally radial) of 2 or 3 pores, all with vasicentric parenchyma. Growth ring boundaries are clear, marginal parenchyma is present, sometimes thick, rays are obvious at 10X and there can be very obvious, albeit fairly small, ray flakes on quartersawn surfaces.

Sometimes semi ring porous or even diffuse porous

Widely used for high end sail-boat decks due to two things: (1) its resistance to fading due to saltwater and sunlight and its ready acceptance of a chemical treatment that brings back the natural beauty once it DOES suscumb to the salt and sun, and (2) the fact that it does not promote rusting of contiguous metal fittings.

** There are several dozen species that have "teak" as all or part of one or more of their common names but this page is intended for Tectona spp. unless otherwise noted with a sample.

my samples:
NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K)
colors will vary under other lighting conditions

both sides of a sample plank of teak / Tectona grandis --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of teak / Tectona grandis --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

both sides of a sample plank of teak / Tectona grandis --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of teak / Tectona grandis --- HUGE enlargements are present.

end grain and HIGH GRIT END GRAIN CLOSEUP of the piece directly above

both sides of a sample plank of "curly" teak / Tectona grandis --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. I put the "curly" in quotes because the curl is so weak you can just barely see it on the labeled side, which is raw, and on the 2nd side, which I sanded to 240 grit I really can't see it at all now.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above. The color in the pic is too red

small piece and end grain

end grain closeup from the piece directly above

two 3/4" planks, most likely cut from the same section of the same tree. The apparently lighter color at and above the knothole on each is more a function of the placement of the light source for the pic than of the color in the planks, which was quite uniform. Both of these have the typical greasy feel of teak.

plank and end grain --- this piece was cut from one of the larger planks directly above and as you can see, the sanding has removed some of the slightly shiny greenish patina.

end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE of the piece directly above

both sides of a sample plank of teak / Tectona grandis. The side in the first pic was sanded but the side in the 2nd pic was not so still shows a slightly orangish patina

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

these two pieces, the first less than 1/8" thick and the second about 1/4" thick, were sent to me for identification. Since the second piece is all end grain, that gave me a lot of end grain to work with and that plus the color and the fact that it's oily wood and the fact that it clogs sandpaper like crazy all led me to the conclusion that it is teak. The all end grain piece was fine sanded on the left half and the results are shown below. Other indicators are enumerated in the second page of the on-line discussion started by the owner: HERE

HIGH GRIT END GRAIN CLOSEUP of the all end grain piece directly above

teak plank reported to have been salvaged (and resawn) from an old building in Southeast Asia --- this is one of those pieces that make me sympathetic with vendors who say "the pics just don't do justice to this wood". The curl is obvious in the pics but just isn't nearly as pretty as in the real wood when seen at the right angle.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

face grain closeup of the piece directly above

plank shot at a lumber yard, particularly because it was so light colored and with an interesting grain pattern

planks photographed at a lumber yard --- there is a hair too much yellow in the pics, but only a hair; these planks really were a golden brown

misc planks photographed at a lumber yard --- golden brown color is quite accurate

planks shot at a lumber yard --- HUGE enlargements are present.

both sides of a sample plank of Rhodesian teak / Baikiaea plurijuga --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

veneer

quartersawn flaky veneer with accurate color

teak veneer --- HUGE enlargements are present. This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION D. This was listed as flat cut, which is just ridiculous. It's clearly quartersawn and even has some nice ray flakes.

flat cut veneer with accurately depicted golden-tinted tan color

veneer with accurately depicted light tan color. The top sheet has a small crotch-like area and both have a faint curly figure.

teak veneer from COLLECTION E --- HUGE enlargements are present. Some of the darkening may be dirt but I think it's mostly just an age patina.

both sides of a small teak burl piece

end grain of the burl piece directly above

NOT A RAW WOOD COLOR --- this piece has been finished with shellac or something like that, so the color is more vibrant that it would be raw.
teak burl, outside and two faces. HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

two face closeups of the burl directly above

web pics:

colors are mostly suspect

plank with wet and dry sections

planks listed as teak / Tectona grandis

planks with very believable color

planks

planks listed as Central American teak --- I have not researched whether or not this is perhaps some non-teak wood that is just CALLED teak (the way, for example, that jatoba is called Brazilian cherry even though it totally unrelated to cherry)

planks listed as Asian teak

plank showing both wet and dry sections

plank listed as "genuine" teak

bowl blanks and a closeup

turning stock listed as teak / Tectonis grandis and then Burma teak / Tectonis grandis

pen blanks

scales listed as tropical teak

both sides of a set of bottle stopper blanks of Burmese teak

flat cut veneer

bookmatched flat cut veneer

quartersawn veneer

bookmatched quartersawn veneer

bookmatched quartersawn figured veneer

veneer

veneer not listed as having any particular figure, but it appears to have a bee's wing figure and the color seems wrong to me (too red)

veneer listed as Brazilian teak

Brazilian teak veneer sheet closeups with both levels of enlargement

flat cut veneer

figured veneer

flat cut figured veneer --- the "figure" in this case is a curl; compare this to the "figure" a few pics down from here which is a mottle.

figured veneer and a closeup --- the "figure" is clearly a mottle, not a curl

quartersawn figured veneer --- the "figure" in this case is clearly a mottle, not a curl

listed as mottled veneer, both of these look to me to be the same as the samples directly above which were listed only as "figured" veneer, showing once again how loosely and inconsistantly such terms are used by various vendors

listed as quartersawn figured veneer but the only figure I see is ray flakes and that is not normally called "figured". Both levels of enlargement are present, so you can judge for yourself.

Burma teak planks --- I'm not familiar with this variety, so cannot comment on the accuracy of the color. All four of these pics are of the same plank

Burma teak with wet and dry sections

both sides and two closeups of a flat cut Burma teak plank

Burma teak planks

figured Burma teak

Rhodesian teak scales

all of these pics are from the BogusColorVendor so I'm not confident of the orange tint in the color

planks

both sides of a plank and a closeup

flat cut Burma teak plank and closeup

both sides and a closeup of a quartersawn Burma teak plank

all of the above are from the BogusColorVendor so I'm not confident of the orange tint in the color

patio set and patio chair

chairs --- the second one is specifically listed as having been made with plantation teak but actually I think it likely that most of the furniture shown on this page was made with plantation teak

teak benches

bowls

laminated bowls

salad bowl

carved bowl

teak tray

vases