What are 'teak' tables really made from?

[jalmberg]

Last weekend a local, high-end patio store had 'teak' outdoor furniture -- tables, chairs, etc. -- on sale. The prices weren't crazy low, but cheaper than you could build yourself, out of real teak.

Is it really possible for asian companies to turn teak into furniture and ship it half-way round the world, add a 50% retail margin, and still be cheaper than the raw teak in my local 'boutique' lumber yard?

Or is it some sort of teak alternative? It sure looks like teak to me, but its got me wondering.

Any wood experts out there notice the same thing? What kind of wood is it? It's almost worth buying just to break up for the wood, if it's real teak.

[landlocked sailor]

I bought some really nice adirondack style chairs from Sam's 6 or 7 years ago. They are truly thick and solid teak. The next year(I went for more) were thin spindly things for more money. They were still teak but obviously the maker was trying to stretch his inventory. There are plenty of other very durable tropical woods out there waiting to be utilized; ipe is a good example. It's dense as lignum vitae yet sold as decking in the NE. Rick

[Mrleft8]

It's plantation grown Teak, which is fine. The amount of lumber they buy, and the amount they pay their employees make it possible, but I doubt the manufacturer is making more than a couple of bucks profit off of each piece. But when you crank out 100,000 pieces of furniture a year, and your overhead is $0.02 per day....... If you could buy 60,000,000bf of Oak, I bet you could get it for less than your local lumber wholesaler too.
ETA: And it costs about the same to ship 5,000Lbs. of raw lumber across the ocean as it does to ship 5,000Lbs. of deck furniture.

[Lew Barrett]

I am constantly amazed at how affordable teak furniture from Indonesia and Thailand can be. While staying with a friend in Thailand, he had a custom teak cabinet made and delivered to his house, and if I recall, the total cost was under $100.00 That was for a custom piece using full sized timbers. I have had teak patio furniture literally given to me, and it sure enough wears, finishes and weathers like teak. I suspect that as Lefty says, much of what we see here is the real deal. Bear in mind too, that such stuff is made from small slats and sticks.

On the other hand, I have seen some incredibly heavy and dense teak furniture from the same sources that I could not source the wood for at the price of the finished goods. Some is used and fairly worn, but retains sufficient charm to be quite attractive.

Fair question given how expensive even plantation teak is by the foot here.

[tigerregis]

Google "teak and Indonesian government" and you will find plenty of info satisfying your question. I had an acquaintance with a company out of Delaware, who had a booth at the Bay Bridge Boat Show and the amount of "discount" that was available was hard to fathom. The goods had to be shipped from a warehouse except for the floor stock, which was deeply discounted to avoid loading for the ride home. It was beautiful patio furniture, but alas I lived on a small boat.

[Capt Zatarra]

Here in Nicaragua teak is plantation grown. Just down the road from where I am are several cottage industry type business making teak patio furniture. The teak sells for about a dollar and fifty cent(US) per board foot, less for bigger orders. Sounds great right? Here is the rub...all the trees are cut down when they are twenty years old some as early as seven years old. These trees are barely eight inches in diameter. All of it is going to the furniture business. My experience with teak is that if it is younger then fifty years old it does not have as much oil in it, or as tight a grain as what I want in my teak for my boat.

On a slightly different angle to the subject, I worked with the Royal Thai Marine Recon unit in the 1980s and 1990s. The mission at the time was finding and capturing or eliminating teak smugglers, and drug smugglers. The teak smugglers were mostly Burmese/Mayamarian (sp) and these guys were cold blooded killers. If they came upon a wood cutter or a farmer they would kill them and their families. They would drag a section of log 8 to 14 feet in diameter, by oxen out to the ocean and float it off shore to be picked up by a ship. One successful trip could make each guy on the crew 2 to 3 years of income. I often wondered if this smuggled wood was ending up in the boats that I love so much. Capt. Z.

[tigerregis]

Karin(sp) guerrillas. Is it them you refer to? I knew this and omitted it because of the political connotations. That smuggling paid for weapons in their fight against the Junta.

[Capt Zatarra]

My experience at the time was that the smugglers were 'get rich quick' 'kill anyone who gets between me and what I want' kind of sadistic animals. The way the authorities would get wind that something was happening was generally with a missing persons report, for a local woodcutter or farmer up on the border. Other then that the marine recon units patrolled the border trying to keep the locals save. The difference between the drug smugglers and the teak smugglers, was the drug smugglers would drop their load and run for it. The teak smugglers went heavily armed and manned and would always stand and fight. Because the Thai government sympathized with the Karen, I am totally quessing here, but I would bet dollars to dounuts that smuggling for arms would have some insider help and would not show up on the radar as it were. Capt. Z.

[tigerregis]

Thanks, you having been there, know more than I. A Burmese friend is the source for me BTW.

[Lew Barrett]

On a slightly different angle to the subject, I worked with the Royal Thai Marine Recon unit in the 1980s and 1990s. The mission at the time was finding and capturing or eliminating teak smugglers, and drug smugglers. The teak smugglers were mostly Burmese/Mayamarian (sp) and these guys were cold blooded killers. If they came upon a wood cutter or a farmer they would kill them and their families. They would drag a section of log 8 to 14 feet in diameter, by oxen out to the ocean and float it off shore to be picked up by a ship. One successful trip could make each guy on the crew 2 to 3 years of income. I often wondered if this smuggled wood was ending up in the boats that I love so much. Capt. Z.

Do you happen to know Richard Lair (Professor Elephant)?

I have heard very lurid and disturbing stories about teak smuggling in Myanmar (Burma) from him and others who are schooled in elephant keeping/handling. As you say, it makes one concerned.

Yesterday we went to an Indonesian teak importer and saw some truly beautiful pieces at prices that I could not build them for. Much of the wood is recycled. Rock hard.

[Capt Zatarra]

I don't recall the name. It has been 15 years since I worked with the RTMR Units. The last time I was in Thailand was 2000 and that was a stop over visit before going to Vietnam for a MIA Recovery mission, but that as they say is a different story. For now Thailand is calling me, I have to get my schooner done so I can sail there and show my wife and daughter around. Of course I will be making stop overs in the Galapagos, Samoa, Tahiti, Figi, Karabati, and so many other coconut shrouded islands along the way. Capt. Z.

[Bob Cleek]

From what I hear, a lot of Burmese teak is being bought by the Chinese and then sent back out for use in furniture making, a lot of which is now being done in Vietnam. The finished export products avoid the bans on teak imports from Mynamar because they are "made in Vietnam" from "teak from China." Or so the scuttlebutt goes.