Teak wood outdoor furniture gives owners a relaxing and beautifully blended set of chairs and tables for their backyard deck, patio, or garden. You will find a gorgeous collection of teak benches, teak tables, and teak chairs with an elegant design both you and your guests will truly love. Outdoor dining will be thoroughly enjoyed when using a casual teak table. Relaxing will never be the same in the comfortable teak gliders and loungers we have to offer.
Teak Wood Designs
If you’re looking for a new outdoor table set you’re sure to find that the teak wood options will easily match its natural surroundings. Teak garden furniture includes a variety of different options so you can customize the look of your backyard to accommodate the people that frequently visit. Charming teak bar tables and bar stools, teak folding armchairs, and teak Adirondack loungers with footrests will make you never want to leave the outdoors.
Teak Wood Benches
Teak indoor or outdoor benches can come in the classic style that features wide vertical slat seating and back with beautifully curved contour arms for the perfect fit. This outdoor furniture bench is tough enough to be used outdoors but is just as attractive to be used indoors as well. Another teak wood bench you are sure to adore is the Lutyen teak wood bench with its scrolled wood design and slatted back with deep seating and wide bottom rails. Both versions are completely made of teak wood so you’re given a top quality product.
The Tivoli Group
Tivoli teak wood furniture is only made with teak wood and gives you a gorgeous contemporary look. These designer benches and arm chairs compliment each other in any outdoor setting. The vertical slat seating and back with its curved contour arms makes each piece an excellent place to relax and take in the view. You will easily create an elegant atmosphere using this teak garden furniture option.
Teak Adirondack Lounger
Teak Adirondack loungers with footrests provide owners with a comfortable chair in their garden, around the pool, or on a patio. The footrest gives anyone the chance to get some R&R without having to leave their home. The natural teak is easily matched with the many table options. You have plenty of outdoor cushions to choose from to further customize the look of your Adirondack loungers in your backyard or pool area.
Teak Wood Dining Tables
For those that enjoy outdoor dining, you will love the experience even more when you have an outdoor teak table. The round teak table options give everyone the chance to be apart of the conversation no matter where you’re sitting. These outdoor tables are made entirely of teak wood with a lovely tabletop design that can easily match outdoor teak chairs. The attractive teak tables can be used both inside and out depending on where you need the table space. The Savannah teak dining table conveniently converts into a compact unit for easy storage.
Natural Teak Wood Décor
Outdoor teak bar furniture is made only of teak wood and shows off the slatted teakwood design. The matching teak bar chairs makes a perfect setting for a private backyard or even a commercial restaurant. The sturdy legs and base further enhances a person’s experience when using a set of teak bar furniture.
If you are preparing to buy some garden furniture there is a lot of narrowing down that you need to do. For example, do you want metal, stone, plastic or wood garden furniture? You have probably discovered that wood furniture is not as popular as it used to be. For some time now outdoor garden furniture alternatives are cheaper than traditional wood. Even though it is more expensive, hand-crafted wood furniture is the best you can buy, and it will probably last longer than metal or plastic. Is your answer now wood? You have probably made an excellent choice.
Now that you decided on wood your search has just begun. Telling a craftsman that you want wood furniture is similar to walking into a computer store and telling them you want a computer. There are too many choices of wood to be uncertain about what kind you want. In order to help you, the following items will describe these different woods for your wood garden furniture.
Alder. This wood is a hard wood valued for its durability and strength. It is very beautiful in its natural state, which is a honey color; it also can easily be stained to generate a different look for wood garden furniture.
Brazilian Cherry. Brazilian cherry wood is a popular wood due because of its density and natural weather resistance. This wood is not only used in garden furniture but is used in decking, equipment for the playground and railroad ties. Brazilian cherry furniture is an exellent choice for durability; it should last up to 25 years or more.
Cedar. Cedar is probably one of the best choices for wood garden furniture. One good thing about cedar is its natural resistant to insect damage and it also resists weather and decay damage that seems to attack other types of wood.
Cypress. This is a popular wood for garden furniture as it resists decay and cracking. It has an exclusive yellowish-red color that people find attractive. Cypress wood will retain paint quite well. Even though it is appealing in its natural state, if you want to paint or stain it, it would look just as beautiful.
Mahogany. Mahogany is another type of wood that is beautiful for use in the garden. It will resist splintering and shrinking. Newly built mahogany furniture has a deep, rich red color. After spending time in the elements, this wood will get a bit of a silver hue to it.
Teak. Teak is one of the hardest, strongest and most durable of all woods. It is highly resistant to rotting and is almost impenetrable to the effects of sun, rain, frost, or snow. If left untreated it will have a gracefull silver gray color, if treated with oil it will maintain its golden yellow color.
Now you have a few ideas on the different woods for your wood garden furniture and you can select whichever suits your needs best. Any wood garden furniture can be used on your deck, patio, under your trees, for dining, or just relaxing in your flower garden. The natural beauty of wood garden furniture will enhance the natural spaces in your garden.
You are contemplating your first purchase of Teak Furniture and you are wondering if you making the right decision? Well, you are and in this quick article, I will explain why I believe that.
If you already use Teak Wood in some of your favorite outdoor furniture, then this article will just be fun information for you to know and share with your friends when they ask you, “why did you buy Teak Wood” versus ?????.
It is no surprise, or it should not be, that Teak Wood has been the favored wood for generations. The secrets of this wood are out and they have been for a long, long time.
First, a little history lesson: (You will love this part)
It is not a well known fact, but is has been written that the Chinese have been renowned sailors for generations. Many of their ships were built and designed to not only sail in the oceans, but also to move up river. Much of the trade then, was done several thousand miles up river and not out in the ocean. These ships needed to be versatile, durable, and tough.
The wood used to build these early Chinese ships was Teak. It is also said that the Chinese shipbuilders would bury the wood logs in moist soil for years prior to building their ships. This made the wood much stronger and impervious to anything that could be encountered on the high seas, including enemies. Why was this important? It was important because approx. 600 years ago the Chinese were set out on a task by the Chinese Ming dynasty to sail to the edge of the world. Apparently they circumnavigated the world several times. But this is going off to another subject. Let’s get back to the subject at hand (I’ll bet you didn’t know that you would actually be learning something too?).
Later in years, British naval ships were made from Oak, also a very hard and durable wood. The British encountered two problems with oak: Wood Worms and a lack of Oak trees. Woodworms were destroying the ships in the British Naval Fleet. Woodworms were the scourge of wooden ships throughout history. It could take 850 oak logs to repair one ship. It took a little over 2000 oak logs just to build one ship. The British needed ships as they continued for some time to have maritime issues with the French, and to be able to go on to conquer and take control of British colonies. The British naval fleet was their primary means to accomplish this.
The Oak supply in Europe was being quickly depleted. They knew about the Teak wood used on the Chinese ships and how rugged they were after having run into them, literally in the shipping lanes. The British had learned how impervious these ships were to all of the elements at sea: Saltwater, ocean wind, and the blistering sun. It was also learned then that Teak was found to not to splinter when hit by gunfire or artillery fire. This was a very important issue as splintering wood was the chief cause of casualties among naval warfare in the eighteenth century.
Britain was very interested to grow and produce this wood. The British quickly realized they did not need to grow Teak Wood as they could annex those countries where the Teak wood was grown and have a plentiful supply. India, Thailand and Burma were quickly annexed into the British Empire. It is not to say this is why the British took over these areas, but it certainly helped to give reason. Myanmar (formerly Burma), which is just south of India, and Yangoon became the first places where Teak was being harvested for British ships. Calcutta was set up as another British shipbuilding site. All of the British merchant ships built in Calcutta were built with Myanmar Teak logs which were said to be the best. Once the wood was depleted from India, logs were harvested from Thailand and Burma.
Teak forests were quickly being depleted. Teak was now the preferred wood used for building ships, Yachts, Ocean liners and furniture. Under ocean conditions, the wood had very little shrinkage or warpage. This meant little maintenance. The wood was also impervious to wood rot and insects, like the mighty woodworm. The famous Ocean liner “Queen Mary” used no less than 1000 tons of teak when built. The British quickly realized the depletion that was taking place and developed a re-forestation plan. They appointed a leader to head this new bureau and began replanting Teak trees on what are now called Teak “plantations”. A set of very strict laws were enacted regarding who can cut Teak Wood and who can purchase it. Once these laws were set in place, one needed to have permission from the British Government to be able to cut a Teak Tree down and or export it.
Teak was also being used by the locals for huts, fence posts, and furniture. India is the third largest importer of Teak today, behind China and Japan. As much as 80% of India’s timber consumption is Teak. The wood is used in India today for local consumption; building homes, furniture, fencing, etc. It is the one wood that can withstand the monsoons, the blistering heat and the humidity. It is the wood that all other timber species are compared to.
Teak Wood contains natural oil and Silica (sand) which makes it impervious to insects, and wood rot. These substances also help it to maintain it luster for many, many years, but make it a little more difficult for the manufactures as their blades tend to dull sooner.
When many of the English ships of WWII were taken apart for salvage, the Teak Wood decks were re-manufactured into outdoor furniture like park benches. Even today they can be seen in many parts of Europe still functioning.
Most of the Teak grown today is grown on Plantations that are governed by the local governments. The demand for Teak is growing at an estimated 10% per year. Teak is a heavily regulated (and rightfully so) commodity, and is sold through the auction process. Teak is not very easy to get. There are regulatory permits that must be purchased and other expenses that go along with regulation. For example, once purchased, it is usually the purchasing companies’ responsibility to provide transportation if the wood is to be exported and certain countries have regulations on how many logs can be exported. Currently, Java, Indonesia is the largest exporter of Teak. There are several companies that are located in Java that will process and fashion the Teak into furniture, or planks for flooring or siding, and then export the finished item or semi finished item to countries around the world.
Teak grows very rapidly but still takes approx. 50 years to mature. Many countries are reviewing the possible rotation after 30 or 40 years. This is mainly due to the large demand for Teak. The consensus with this rotation is that the wood will not be inferior at that rate. There are some countries that are trying tree rotation after only 25 years. The results are timber that is smaller in diameter, color, and grain.
So, when add it all up, you get a much better understanding not only of what the hype about Teak Wood is all about, but the numerous qualities of Teak Wood and the supply and demand side of Teak Wood.
Many people for generations have been enjoying the warm benefits of owning Teak Wood products. Outdoor Teak Wood furniture is a Standard for many families and in many gardens, terraces, patios, verandas, ships, and yachts around the world. If you are investing in outdoor furniture, you really owe it to yourself to step into the world of Teak.