How to Identify Teak
Recognize teak by its golden-brown color, oily feel, faint leather-like scent, and straight grain — and tell it from iroko, afrormosia, and 'teak' substitutes.
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Start with color and feel, which together are highly suggestive. Genuine teak heartwood is a warm golden to honey-brown, often with darker streaks, and freshly worked or lightly sanded stock has a distinctly oily, almost greasy feel — run a finger across a cut surface and it can leave a faint oily film. That waxy touch, combined with the golden tone, separates teak from most look-alikes at a glance. Weathered outdoor teak greys on the surface but reveals the gold beneath a light scratch or sanding.
Use scent as a second cue. Freshly cut or sanded teak has a characteristic odor often described as leathery or resembling old leather or shoe polish — faint but recognizable, and unlike the peppery or bland smells of many substitutes. Weight and hardness give a third check: teak feels medium-heavy and firm but not rock-hard, and a fingernail or blade shows it to be medium-hard rather than dense-and-glassy like ipe or as light as many pale substitutes.
Examine the grain and end grain. Teak's grain is usually straight, sometimes wavy or interlocked, with a medium to somewhat coarse but even texture; quartered faces may show a soft ribbon stripe. On the end grain it is ring-porous to semi-ring-porous, with large earlywood pores forming a distinct ring and smaller latewood pores — visible with a hand lens. A telling feature is a faint whitish or yellowish deposit sometimes seen in the pores and a slight grittiness under the blade from its natural silica, which is also why teak dulls edges fast.
The main confusions are with the many woods sold as 'teak' or used to imitate it. Iroko (African teak) is similar golden-brown and durable but lacks teak's oily feel and leathery scent, is coarser, and often shows harder yellow mineral deposits. Afrormosia (African teak) is finer-textured, more uniformly brown, and heavier. Robinia/black locust and cumaru are marketed for the same outdoor uses but differ in color and grain. Cheaper 'teak' furniture is often stained rubberwood, nyatoh, or eucalyptus — these miss the oily feel, the leather scent, and the ring-porous end grain. When in doubt, the oily touch plus the leathery smell plus a warm golden heartwood is the most reliable field combination for genuine teak.
Frequently asked questions
What is the single best field test for teak?
The oily feel plus the leathery scent. Genuine teak has a slightly greasy, waxy surface on a fresh cut and a faint smell like old leather or shoe polish when sanded. Combined with a warm golden-brown heartwood, that trio distinguishes it from nearly all substitutes.
How can I tell teak from iroko ('African teak')?
Both are golden-brown and durable, but teak feels oily and smells leathery, while iroko is drier to the touch, coarser, and often carries hard whitish-yellow mineral deposits in its pores. Iroko also lacks teak's distinctive scent and tends to a slightly more open, uneven texture.
Is my 'teak' furniture really teak?
Much inexpensive 'teak' furniture is stained rubberwood, nyatoh, or eucalyptus. Check for the oily feel, the leather-like smell when scratched or sanded, a warm golden heartwood under any finish, and ring-porous end grain. Absence of the oiliness and scent usually means it is a substitute.
Does weathered grey teak still look like teak?
On the surface it turns a soft silver-grey once left outdoors unfinished, which can mask its identity. A light sanding or scratch exposes the golden-brown heartwood beneath, and the wood keeps its oily feel and leathery scent, so the underlying cues remain diagnostic.
Teak identified by the community
Recent Teak samples identified with Wood Identifier.
