More Teak Furniture Shopping Tips

We have previously written about teak furniture shopping tips and ways to determine quality teak furniture.  Recently, we have come into possession of a competitor’s teak coffee table.  So, we thought we’d take this moment to further compare the highest quality teak furniture that we sell at Atlanta Teak Furniture with the cheap teak furniture some of our competitors sell.

For a refresher on our previous blogs, please go to: https://www.atlantateak.com/distinguish-quality-outdoor-teak-furniture/ and https://www.atlantateak.com/purchasing-outdoor-teak-furniture/

 

Teak Furniture Shopping Tips

Above, you can see a teak lazy Susan from Atlanta Teak Furniture on top of a competitor’s coffee table.  We will use this picture to illustrate a few points.

Color

What makes teak the best wood for outdoor furniture is its unique combination of density and very high natural oil content.  Therefore, the higher the oil content, the darker the wood.  As you can see, Atlanta Teak Furniture’s product is far darker than the competition

Grain Pattern

Grade A, mature (40 years plus) teak wood will have a very tight grain pattern.  As you can see, our teak has a very tight grain pattern.  The competition does not.

More Examples

Knots, rips and other flaws

Premium teak comes from the heart of the tree.  Furniture made from premium teak will not have any knots or flaws.  The knots are on the outer, younger part of the tree known as the sapwood.  So, knots and other imperfections are an indication of younger, inferior trees.

Here are a few examples of imperfections in the competition’s product:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joinery

At Atlanta Teak Furniture, all the main joints in our furniture are mortise and tenon joints.  This is one of the strongest types of joints.

In the picture below, you can see that the legs of our coffee table are attached directly to the table with this type of joint.  The pieces fit together perfectly, and the wooden dowels hold everything together.

By contrast, our competitor creates a square base (3).  The corners are held together with a bolt coming in from the side(1,2).  (This type of construction reminds us of the famous Swedish furniture store, not known for their ease of assembly).   Once the base is assembled, screws come up through the base into the bottom of the table (4).  These screws are all that holds the table top onto the base.  Lastly, the table top only rests on two sides of the base.  (5)

Also, both tables us a tongue and groove style joint where the slats join the border.  As you can see below, Atlanta Teak Furniture’s joint is very tight.  Whereas, the competition has a wide space creating more opportunity for the joint to fail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Style

Our round coffee table is, well, round.  The table and apron are round.  But, our competitor’s round table sits on a square base.

Summary

Here is a summary of our teak furniture shopping tips:

• the darker the teak the better
• Grade A teak should have a tight grain pattern
• Premium teak should have no knots or other imperfections.
• Main joints should be mortise and tenon.  All joints should be tight.
• Premium teak should never come pre-stained, pre-weathered, pre-finished, pre-sealed or with any other finish or coating.  It should be natural.

Read our other blogs and visit our teak furniture website to learn why teak from Thailand is the best and how not all teak furniture is created equally.