Facts About Teak Wood

Teak Trees

• Found throughout southeast Asia, teak is a tropical deciduous tree. Mature trees grow to about 130 feet tall.

Qualities

• Teak is an attractive, golden wood with natural oils that make it resistant to rot. Even without being oiled or varnished, teak wood, especially from mature old-growth trees, is extremely durable and weather-resistant. It is also highly resistant to termites and other insects.

Uses

• Much sought-after for its color and its durability, teak is used extensively in outdoor furniture, in wood flooring, outdoor decks, shipbuilding and boat decking. In India, many people use it to frame doors and windows and for outdoor columns. It also enjoyed widespread popularity in Danish modern-style furniture and is still much sought after in antiques.

Logging Teak

• Teak logs are so heavy they will not float, making it difficult to bring the harvested logs out of dense tropical forests. Many logging operations use elephants to move and stack the logs.

Deforestation

• Increasingly, logging and environmental change threaten old-growth teak forests. Two species, found in Burma and the Philippines, are endangered. Teak plantations are becoming widespread in areas where the tree is native as a means to sustain teak growth and a steady lumber supply.

Fun Fact

• Throughout England you will find park benches, many of them 100 years old, made of teak salvaged from sailing ships. When the ships were decommissioned, the teak timbers were often found to still be in perfect shape, so the wood was saved and made into useful items for public use.