teak identification

[kieronriley]

does anyone have any idea of how i might be able to identify teak,i have just aquired a few tabe top size pieces of what i think is teak but how can i be sure,thanks.kieron

 

[srp]

There are a couple of other timbers that can look similar, afromosia and iroko. All three have a distinctive smell when cut - afromosia is slightly aromatic, perfumed, and iroko is peppery and unpleasant. Also, if your table tops came from a school it's more likely to be iroko - thousands of such tables , with beech underframes, were produced in the 60's and 70's for science and cookery rooms.
Post a photo, but bear in mind that any surface finish can be misleading.
Some teak shown on this page, top 2 photos.

 

[Graham_Wright]

Iroko generally has a very interlocked grain. it also creates a dust when cut that can, with some people, lead to bleeding.

 

[tolhurstorganic]

Most reliable way to identify teak is to run a sharp plane over it to expose fresh wood and look for tiny chalky white spots within the grain, may need a magnifier to see them. It really is some form of chalk taken from the soil as the tree grows, this bluntens edge tools quickly.
Plantation teak does not always show the chalk so clearly and is inferior to natural grown teak, not worth using.

 

[sailorman]

There are a couple of other timbers that can look similar, afromosia and iroko. All three have a distinctive smell when cut - afromosia is slightly aromatic, perfumed, and iroko is peppery and unpleasant. Also, if your table tops came from a school it's more likely to be iroko - thousands of such tables , with beech underframes, were produced in the 60's and 70's for science and cookery rooms.
Post a photo, but bear in mind that any surface finish can be misleading.
Some teak shown on this page, top 2 photos.

Amromosia is i believe a protected species, so it is not possible to buy new stock these days

 

[sailorman]

Iroko generally has a very interlocked grain. it also creates a dust when cut that can, with some people, lead to bleeding.

Teak leaves an "oily" saw dust.
Teak does not have the "flecked" appearance that Iroko has

 

[Amulet]

does anyone have any idea of how i might be able to identify teak,i have just aquired a few tabe top size pieces of what i think is teak but how can i be sure,thanks.kieron

Where you "acquired" it would probably be a good indicator of whether it's likely to be teak. (However you might not like to say.) It's a good few decades since lumps of teak that size were available at any even nearly reasonable cost.

I have one huge piece which came out of a shipbreakers yard in the 1960's when the Cunarders were being decommissioned. I never have a use for a bit that big and can't bear to cut it. It is 2.2 metres by 0.8 by 30mm. It'll probably still be in my workshop when I die!

 

[sailorman]

Where you "acquired" it would probably be a good indicator of whether it's likely to be teak. (However you might not like to say.) It's a good few decades since lumps of teak that size were available at any even nearly reasonable cost.

I have one huge piece which came out of a shipbreakers yard in the 1960's when the Cunarders were being decommissioned. I never have a use for a bit that big and can't bear to cut it. It is 2.2 metres by 0.8 by 30mm. It'll probably still be in my workshop when I die!

i have quite a hoard of teak, i always select a piece "just" big enough to do a job as long as the grain is acceptable for the application.
i cant waste it

 

[Poignard]

does anyone have any idea of how i might be able to identify teak,i have just aquired a few tabe top size pieces of what i think is teak but how can i be sure,thanks.kieron

I once asked this of an old seadog. His answer was "Put an offcut in the boatyard skip. If it's gone in 5 minutes, it's teak!"