# Teak - splintery and smelly



## DLJeffs (Feb 16, 2021)

A friend had his hardwood floors redone and had a bunch of cut offs. He said they were solid teak. They didn't look like the teak I made my wife's quilt rack from (I think that was called plantation teak - supposedly recovered from old plantations in the South). But I took a chunk that had a little figure and started making a cribbage board. Four things struck me about this teak - first, it's hard a hell, the planer had to work hard to trim off the glue grooves in the bottom; second, it stinks, smells like a barnyard on fire; third, it splinters easily, after learning my lesson I'm wearing gloves until I get it sanded; and last it's heavy, this board is 17.5" X 4.75" X 0.625" and it weighs 26.75oz. I looked at Paul's ID site and am pretty sure this is indeed teak. But it's sure different than the teak I made my wife's quilt rack from. Maybe from another part of the world.

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## phinds (Feb 16, 2021)

DLJeffs said:


> I looked at Paul's ID site and am pretty sure this is indeed teak.


???

Uh ... no. That doesn't look even remotely like teak in any way. First off it's diffuse porous and teak is clearly ring porous. Second, you can get a little graininess in teak but nothing like what this wood has. Third the color is wrong for teak. I just can't figure why you would think that it looks like the teak pics on my site or any site.

Looks like kempas to me.


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## Arn213 (Feb 16, 2021)

There are so many teak substitute out there from Braz. Cumaru, Iroko, Braz. walnut, Suriname Angelique, etc.. just to many to name. Genuine teak will not smell like that and it has a smell between fresh processed leather goods to a very, very faint leather-vanilla odor. Real teak has a simple water test- take an eye drop and put a water drop on the surface. The non teak, water will be absorbed. Real teak will have have real slow absorption rate or barely noticeable absorption.

You can see a lot of examples of real teak from a lot of mid century (1950’s -1960’s) Danish furniture- Sweden and Denmark. They profusely used teak on furniture (mostly in veneer form) and decorative wood accessories alongside walnut, rosewood and mahogany. This is one instance actually where color denotes old growth and new growth (farmed). Old growth teak from Burma and India is red-brown in color and new growth (after the 1960’s over harvesting) is yellow in color. I happen to have both examples- I prefer the warmth and color of the red-brown old teak. Yes, you get close to it and it has this beautiful aroma.


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## DLJeffs (Feb 16, 2021)

phinds said:


> ???
> 
> Uh ... no. That doesn't look even remotely like teak in any way. First off it's diffuse porous and teak is clearly ring porous. Second, you can get a little graininess in teak but nothing like what this wood has. Third the color is wrong for teak. I just can't figure why you would think that it looks like the teak pics on my site or any site.
> 
> Looks like kempas to me.


Huh... that makes me feel better and worse at the same time. Better because in my mind this isn't teak. Worse, because when I look at the end grain photos it looks similar to me. Can you educate me what I'm not seeing? Here's one of the end grain shots on your web site and to me it looks really similar to the one I took. No? Is it the prominent lighter color rings?





I also looked at the kempas page and totally agree with you, that looks way closer to what I have. Plus, many of the samples are from flooring, which is where this came from. I'll have to ask my buddy if he's sure they told him it's teak - because if so, he got sold a bill of goods. And it for sure doesn't have a nice aroma - leather vanilla or otherwise.


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## phinds (Feb 16, 2021)

DLJeffs said:


> Can you educate me what I'm not seeing?


You need to look at the ring porous / diffuse porous example here:
https://woodbarter.com/threads/wood-anatomy-growth-rings.18348/


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## DLJeffs (Feb 16, 2021)

Thank you for highlighting those two articles, Paul. That helps tremendously. I'm sure this sounds blasphemous to you but I'm not a stickler for wood identification. For me it's either pretty or not. But the smell of this stuff just didn't seem like teak to me. Thanks again.


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## barry richardson (Feb 16, 2021)

Yea Doug, teak doesn't stink, and it it is not particularly hard, and doesn't have splinters you describe. BTW the term "plantation Teak" refers to farm cultivated teak for commercial use.....

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## FranklinWorkshops (Feb 16, 2021)

I've had a lot of old growth teak from Burma and Siam (name of Thailand prior to 1949) and it is heavy, oily and has a pleasant smell. Sold most of what I had to a boat builder working on the Chesapeake Bay. I also have a few pieces of flooring exactly like Doug has. Nasty stuff but I never knew what it was. I have no idea who gave it to me. Now I know it is kempas. Going to burn it.


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## DLJeffs (Feb 17, 2021)

The guy I got this piece from said his flooring installer bought it as "Cumaru Brazil Teak" to match the other existing floors in his house. I guess I'll just let him go on believing it's teak. As hard as this wood is, it probably makes excellent flooring.

Paul's wood ID site does list Cumaru saying it's fibrous, heavy and dense, often used a flooring and sold as Brazilian chestnut or Brazilian teak. But it's actually a legume. Pictures look right to me so I guess that's what it is.

I started on a cribbage board with it and once I sand it it isn't so bad. Makes an interesting texture.

It does make one wonder how many other wood products are being sold under false identification. Kind of like the "Chilean sea bass" flim flam.


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## DLJeffs (Feb 17, 2021)

barry richardson said:


> Yea Doug, teak doesn't stink, and it it is not particularly hard, and doesn't have splinters you describe. BTW the term "plantation Teak" refers to farm cultivated teak for commercial use.....


Ha! So the teak I bought probably wasn't recovered from some old antebellum plantation in the south? Man, ya' can't trust anybody these days. Oh well, like I said, I'm not a stickler what kind of wood it is as long as it's pretty.

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## Mr. Peet (Feb 18, 2021)

DLJeffs said:


> The guy I got this piece from said his flooring installer bought it as "Cumaru Brazil Teak" to match the other existing floors in his house. I guess I'll just let him go on believing it's teak. As hard as this wood is, it probably makes excellent flooring.
> 
> Paul's wood ID site does list Cumaru saying it's fibrous, heavy and dense, often used a flooring and sold as Brazilian chestnut or Brazilian teak. But it's actually a legume. Pictures look right to me so I guess that's what it is.
> 
> ...



Hundreds of woods are sold under false names. About every 10 years the flooring industry is really good at reintroducing a few old woods under new names. Lumber Liquidators were great at it. 

To expand on Barry's comment, the use of the term "plantation" was started to show we, humans were planting to replace that consumed, as Teak is threatened in the wild in many places around the world. Truly grown plantation stock is often of lower quality than the older growth found in the wild. Illegal stock is often mixed into the plantation market to be sold to buyers thinking they are being environmentally responsible. Similar plantations are in operation for certain acacias, mahoganies, African blackwood and many, many more species.

So if your friend had given you the entire market name to start, this thread would not have been. So think of the fun you would have missed and thank him.

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## DLJeffs (Feb 18, 2021)

"So think of the fun you would have missed ..."

And let's not underplay the educational value...


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## Gonzalodqa (Feb 19, 2021)

It looks like Succupira (it also stinks when you work with it)


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## Mr. Peet (Feb 19, 2021)

Gonzalodqa said:


> It looks like Succupira (it also stinks when you work with it)


_Bowdichia_, which 'Succupira' were you thinking?


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## Gonzalodqa (Feb 19, 2021)

Mr. Peet said:


> _Bowdichia_, which 'Succupira' were you thinking?


Yes Bowdichia spp.


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## Mr. Peet (Feb 19, 2021)

Gonzalodqa said:


> Yes Bowdichia spp.


I could see where you could say that, however, the source had revealed the whole name in post #9 so most of us are fine with 'Cumaru', _Dipteryx_ spp.


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## Gonzalodqa (Feb 19, 2021)

Oh i missed that one. Yes if they say is Cumaru then dipteryx it is. I think the most common are odorata and micranta, but I am aware that ferrea and some others can be found in the market

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## DKMD (Feb 19, 2021)

DLJeffs said:


> Kind of like the "Chilean sea bass" flim flam.



I thought they called it that because Patagonian toothfish doesn’t sound appetizing. They’ve got a face that even a mother couldn’t love.


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## DLJeffs (Feb 19, 2021)

DKMD said:


> I thought they called it that because Patagonian toothfish doesn’t sound appetizing. They’ve got a face that even a mother couldn’t love.


Exactly. It started with a chef somewhere, sort of like Prudhomme and blackened redfish in the Gulf. If you haven't read it, this is a really interesting book about it.

Hooked: Pirates, Poaching, and the Perfect Fish

Reactions: Way Cool 1


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