How many types of teak wood

Burmese teak wood, Burma teak wood, Indonesian teak wood, Asian teak wood, Chinese teak wood, Golden teak wood, African teak wood, South American teak wood, plantation teak wood, Philippines teak wood, Malaysian teak wood, India teak wood, Thailand teak wood....

People would feel getting lost when they come across the different types of teak wood in the market for hardwood flooring or wood furniture. It is extremely difficult for people to know how many types of teak wood there are and what difference among all the types of teak wood, as ordinary people are not wood experts, knowing very little about wood.

Teak wood could be classified into several types in different ways.

The first way of teak wood classification is teak wood or the wood that looks teak.

In fact, there is only one real teak wood in the world. The botanical name or scientific name of teak wood is Tectona Grandis. That is the easiest way to identify teak wood.

There are some types of wood that looks very like teak wood in colors and appearance. For example, golden teak wood is a wood that looks like teak wood, but it is not real teak wood. Its real botanical name is black locust wood or robinia wood, with similar colors and wood grains as teak. As a result, many Chinese teak hardwood flooring or furniture would be sold as Burma teak wood flooring or furniture at a very attractive price compared to the price of real Burma teak wood. Thus it is necessary for people to know how to identify real teak wood. 

The second way of teak wood classification is the growth way of teak wood.

the teak wood yielded in old-growth forest in South Asia, is the mature real teak wood. Usually only Burmese teak wood, Some teak wood from India and Indonesia are old-growth teak wood.

The teak wood yielded in plantation forest is referred to plantation teak. This type of teak wood is more and more popular now because of the limited supply of natural mature teak wood from old-growth forest. Plantation teak wood is logged around 15-25 years, in fact teak wood of this age is not mature enough for use. But it is acceptable to many clients considering the good price since the wood properties of this plantation teak wood is still much better than many conventional hardwood.

The third way of teak wood classification is the origin of real teak wood.

Real teak wood is native to Southeast Asia, but teak wood is planted widely in the world now due to its high economic benefits.

Burmese teak wood: also named as Burma teak wood, usually it is old-growth native real teak wood from forest in Myanmar or Burma, with growth time over 50years. It is the best-quality and most popular real teak wood in the market, with golden color, elegant wood grains and rich with teak oil inside wood.

Unfinished Burmese Teak wood Flooring

Indonesian teak wood: also named as Asian teak wood. This is also real teak wood, with over 30years of growth. Indonesian teak wood is the best plantation teak wood around the world, due to the suitable weathers and soils for teak growth. Its quality is the secondary among all real teak woods in the world, with wider wood grains, more sound knots, acceptable teak oil content, but a light brown color with a little greyish hue, not so golden brown as Burmese teak wood.

African plantation teak wood: or African teak wood. This is only referred to real teak wood planted in Africa. Due to its growth years only 15-25 years, African plantation teak wood has less teak oil content in wood, thus its stability and durability is not so good as Burmese teak wood, probably just better than conventional hardwoods. The color of this teak wood is very light brown, with some cream color of sapwood. The wood grains are also very wide and it is full of sound knots too.

South American plantation teak wood: or South American teak wood. This is also real teak wood planted in South American, with similarity in quality, colors, wood grains and teak oil content of African plantation teak wood. Sometimes, even some wood exports could not identify the difference between South American and African plantation teak wood.

Indonesian Teak Wood Flooring

India teak wood: India teak wood is also very famous native teak wood from old-growth forest, with similar excellence of wood properties of Burmese teak wood. It has the same reputation as Burmese teak wood. But there is nealy no supply of India teak wood in International market now due to the huge demand of Indian market for teak wood.

Thailand teak wood: Thailand teak wood in reality is the best real teak wood in quality around the world, even better than Burma teak wood. The only reason is the growth circumstances in Thailand are the best habitats for teak trees. The over exploitation of teak wood in Thailand over the past 200 years had endangered teak wood and Now Thai government has prohibited teak wood logging in Thailand. As a result, there is no supply of Thailand teak wood in the market now.

The forth way of teak wood classification is similar quality of teak wood.

Teak wood is very famous around the world, especially popular among the high-class society for high-end wood products. As real teak wood is very expensive, many wood suppliers would use “teak” as the name for some hardwoods that are similar to teak wood in quality, like stability, durability and water resistance. This is a very good way to enhance the value and reputation of those similar hardwoods, such as Brazilian teak wood, African Teak wood, Chinese teak wood.

Brazilian teak wood: its real name is cumaru, not real teak wood tectona grandis. Cumaru wood is a native hardwood from South America, especially from Brazil, with extremely high hardness, stability and durability. It also has high wood oil content for water resistance. Due to its high density and hardness, cumaru wood or Brazilian teak wood is resistant to worms, pests and moths. Brazilian teak wood grains are very different to real teak wood, and its color is usually redish brown, not golden color as real teak.

African teak wood: its real name is iroko, not real teak wood. Iroko also has very good stability durability and water resistance. Iroko looks very different with real teak wood. Its wood grains are always straight, nearly no knot. With acceptable price & good resistance to rotting, Iroko is usually used as a substitute to teak wood for outdoor wood decking, outdoor wood furniture.

South American teak wood: some times people refer garapa wood as Sounth American teak wood, as it has very good wood properties, very stable and durable. Further more, Garapa wood has very nice wavy wood grains, with golden brown color.

Chinese Teak wood: also named as golden teak wood. It is robinia wood or black lotust wood, not real teak wood tectona grandis. This Chinese teak wood is widely used as teak wood (fake), because it loos very similar to real teak wood in color and wood grains. Besides, Chinese teak wood is heavy and stable. It is hard for people without wood knowledge to identify Chinese teak wood and real teak wood, especially after Chinese teak wood is processed as hardwood flooring or wood furniture. Further more, the price of Chinese teak wood is only 40% of real teak wood price. The high return causes many suppliers of hardwood flooring & furniture to use & sell Chinese teak wood as real teak wood to ordinary customers.

According to these ways of classification, we now know well that there would be many types of teak wood, but only one real teak wood, that is Tectona Grandis. Among all real teak woods, Burma teak wood material is the best quality for wood flooring, furniture & hardwood decking. We should pay good attention to the classification and identification of teak wood that you are going to buy.