How can a layman recognise teak wood?

Question

We normally buy furniture and we are told by the carpenter that it is teak wood. Can someone tell me some simple tips on how to recognise that the wood given is REAL TEAK wood..

Answer 1

Serious answer.
Visit a decent wood yard, ask for a piece of Teak, it is classed as a `hardwood` with real Teak the colour is generally a light brown with darker brown lines running through it, Feel it, you will find that it has a silky oily feel, smell it, it has a sweet distinctive smell, and when sanded you will find the dust is very oily and clingy.
When buying furniture be aware that flat areas like table tops could well be chip board faced with a teak veneer.

Answer 2

Rosewood is a type of mahogany and some of the toughest wood in the world is mahogany. It is dense, heavy, strong. I have mahogany furniture that is nearly 100 years old and it is still as beautiful as the day it was made. Teak is more contemporary. It is also less expensive. And, if you ever want to sell the furniture, the rosewood will find a larger pool of buyers with deeper pockets (I had to GIVE away a teak stereo bench when I moved some years ago!) Teak is a wood that comes in and out of fashion. Mahogany never goes out of style. Rosewood is so named because it smells like roses when it it being cut. It is a lighter colour than what we think of as traditional mahogany, more reddish. It is difficult to damage. The only thing teak has going for it that rosewood does not is that it is weather resistant, which is why it is used for patio furniture and boat decks. I am thinking this feature probably does not matter for a bed... Teak is a more "casual" wood than rosewood, which is used in formal furnishings and is also common in old Chinese pieces. Personally, I'd go for the rosewood. It is a rich, beautiful wood, sturdy and it ages wonderfully.

Answer 3

You can tell Teak wood by it's color and grain. Teak is a sort of yellowish orange and the grain is very tight with very small knots usually. There are places you can buy this. Public lumber in Detroit for example.

Answer 4

you can probably tell by the grain or hardness but I usually just rely on the look and fact that its about the heaviest wood i've ever come across red cherry very hard and used in caskets but teak is mucho expensive used in pipes sometimes but even as rare as red
cherry is i see it used in caskets where teak would be very rare it's probably the most expensive wood for furniture money can buy some do try and substitute mahogany or alder and call it poor man's teak but it won't have the heft also beware it comes in different grades from most expensive all the way to firewood

Answer 5

teak looks like mahogany wood with similar tight semi stright grain
similar in color too a light red...the biggest difference is the weight of it...teak tends to be very light and mahogany is heavy

Answer 6

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yes both are very good indeed how they differ means they are different trees like banyan tree or mango tree you know they are expensive also because there is good demand and it takes 50 years atleast for a teak tree used as wood

Answer 7

Here are a BUNCH of pictures showing different shots of teak:
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/teak.htm

Answer 8

You can tell by its grain. It is close together, tight grainned wood. If you have the opportunity to sand an area, the wood will be a rich red color.