Teak

Family

Wood

Category

wood

Species

Tectona grandis

Density

0.63 g/cm³ · 630 kg/m³

Species measured

Teak (Tectona grandis)

Specific gravity

0.55

Janka side hardness

1,000 lbf · 4,448 N

Modulus of rupture

14,600 psi · 100.7 MPa

Modulus of elasticity

1.55 ×10⁶ psi · 10.69 GPa

Source: USDA Forest Service, Wood Handbook — Wood as an Engineering Material (FPL-GTR-190, 2010), Table 5–5b, for clear straight-grained specimens at 12% moisture content. The grey figures are converted at 1 lbf = 4.448 N, 1 psi = 6.895 kPa and 1 GPa = 145,038 psi; the inch-pound numbers are the published ones. Specific gravity is oven-dry mass over volume at 12% moisture content, so it sits about 12% below the working density at the top of this page (0.55 × 1.12 ≈ 0.62 g/cm³). The two come from different sampling programmes, so a few species differ by more than that.

Origin

South and Southeast Asia

Appearance

Golden brown, darkening with exposure; straight grain and a faintly oily surface

Working

The natural oil dulls cutters and resists adhesive, so surfaces are wiped with solvent before bonding. The same oil is what makes it durable outdoors.

Unlike the USDA figures above, these lines are not measurements: they carry no units and no single source. They describe how the timber is generally found to behave rather than what it is guaranteed to do — read them as the consensus of the trade, not as a specification.

• Density is for air-dried stock at about 12% moisture content
• Natural oils dull cutting edges and interfere with glue and finishes
• Plantation teak is lighter and less durable than old-growth

Dressed sizes are the same for every species — a 2x4 is 1-1/2 x 3-1/2 in in oak as much as in spruce. What changes is the weight, and that is derived here from teak's density of 0.63 g/cm³.

Which tools work a material is a property of the family (Wood), not of the individual species — so this list is the same on every wood page, and changes when the tool data changes rather than when this paragraph does.