Teak (Tectona grandis) in numbers: hardness, weight, strength, shrinkage, movement and decay resistance, taken from the tables of the USDA Forest Products Laboratory’s Wood Handbook, followed by what the wood is like to work and what it is used for. The values are averages from small, clear, straight-grained test specimens; real boards with knots, sloping grain or a different moisture content will differ.
| Property | Teak |
|---|---|
| Janka side hardness, 12% moisture | 1,000 lbf (4,448 N) |
| Janka side hardness, green | 930 lbf |
| Hardness rank | harder than 87 of the 168 woods with a 12% hardness value in our database |
| Density at 12% moisture | 40.1 lb/ft³ (643 kg/m³)* |
| Weight per board foot (12%) | 3.34 lb* |
| Specific gravity (ovendry weight, green volume) | 0.55 |
| Specific gravity at 12% moisture | 0.57* |
| Bending strength (modulus of rupture), 12% | 14,600 psi |
| Stiffness (modulus of elasticity), 12% | 1.55 million psi |
| Crushing strength (compression parallel to grain), 12% | 8,410 psi |
| Shrinkage green to ovendry: radial / tangential / volumetric | 2.5% / 5.8% / 7.0% |
| Tangential / radial shrinkage ratio | 2.32 |
| Dimensional change per 1% moisture (radial / tangential) | 0.00101 / 0.00186 |
| Heartwood decay resistance | very resistant (old growth); moderately resistant (young growth) |
What it is
Teak (Tectona grandis) grows in commercial quantities in India, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and the East Indies, and plantations within its natural range and in tropical Latin America and Africa now produce much of the supply. The heartwood is yellow-brown to dark golden brown and turns a rich brown on exposure to air. It has a coarse, uneven texture (it is ring porous), is usually straight grained and has a distinctly oily feel.
Working properties
The heartwood has excellent dimensional stability: its tangential shrinkage from green to oven-dry is 5.8%, about half that of white oak. Its strength is broadly on par with the US oaks. Teak works with moderate ease, but the silica it contains dulls tools, and its oils can interfere with glue and finish, so surfaces may need cleaning with a solvent before bonding. Old-growth teak heartwood is in the very resistant decay class; plantation (young-growth) teak is rated only moderately resistant, which matters for outdoor furniture and decking.
Weight and density
At 12% moisture content teak weighs about 40.1 lb per cubic foot (estimated from its specific gravity and shrinkage), so one board foot (144 cubic inches) weighs about 3.34 lb. An 8 ft board of actual size 3/4 × 5-1/2 in. (a 1×6) holds 0.229 cubic feet and weighs about 9.2 lb; an 8 ft piece 1-1/2 × 3-1/2 in. (a 2×4 size) weighs about 11.7 lb. Green wood is much heavier because of the water it holds.
Density here is ovendry weight plus 12% water, divided by volume at 12% moisture content (Wood Handbook Eq. 4-12: density = specific gravity at 12% × 62.43 lb/ft³ × 1.12).
Wood movement
The Wood Handbook gives dimensional change coefficients for each species: the fraction of its width a board gains or loses for every 1% change in moisture content, between about 6% and 14%. For teak they are 0.00186 across a flatsawn face (tangential) and 0.00101 across a quartersawn face (radial).
Worked example: a flatsawn board 7-1/4 in. wide (a nominal 1×8) that goes from 6% moisture content in a heated winter house to 12% in a humid summer changes width by 7.25 × 0.00186 × 6 = 0.081 in. (about 3/32 in.). The same board quartersawn moves 0.044 in. (about 1/32 in.). Allow for this in panels, tabletops and floors; the wood movement calculator works it out for any size and moisture range.
How it compares
| Species | Janka (lbf) | Density (lb/ft³) | Bending (psi) | Stiffness (Mpsi) | Tangential shrink (%) | Decay resistance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teak | 1,000 | 40.1* | 14,600 | 1.55 | 5.8 | very resistant (old growth); moderately resistant (young growth) |
| Ipe | 3,680 | 64.0† | 25,400 | 3.14 | 8.0 | very resistant |
| Genuine mahogany (Honduran / big-leaf) | 800 | 33.0* | 11,500 | 1.5 | 4.1 | resistant |
| White oak | 1,360 | 47.5 | 15,200 | 1.78 | 10.5 | resistant |
| Western redcedar | 350 | 22.4 | 7,500 | 1.11 | 5.0 | resistant |
| Iroko | 1,260 | 39.9* | 12,400 | 1.46 | 3.8 | resistant |
Uses
Boat building, where it does not corrode metal fittings; furniture, flooring, decorative objects and veneer; tanks, vats and fixtures that need acid resistance.
Frequently asked questions
How hard is teak?
The Wood Handbook gives teak a side hardness of 1,000 lbf (4,448 N) at 12% moisture content, a little softer than white oak at 1,360 lbf.
Why is teak used on boats?
It combines very low shrinkage and swelling with naturally durable heartwood, and the Handbook notes it does not cause rust or corrosion of metal it touches.
Is plantation teak as durable as old-growth teak?
No. Table 14-1 of the Wood Handbook rates old-growth teak heartwood very resistant to decay and young-growth teak only moderately resistant.
Sources
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory. Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material. General Technical Report FPL-GTR-190, 2010. Chapter 2 (species descriptions), Chapter 4 (Tables 4-3, 4-4 shrinkage; Eq. 4-7, 4-9, 4-12 density), Chapter 5 (Tables 5-3b, 5-5b strength and hardness), Chapter 13 (Table 13-5 dimensional change coefficients), Chapter 14 (Table 14-1 decay resistance)
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory. Wood Handbook, 2021 edition (FPL-GTR-282)
Last reviewed: 22 October 2026. Numbers are generated from our parsed copy of the Handbook tables, so every page uses the same data. Values marked * are estimates computed with the Handbook’s own equations. Spotted an error? Please let us know.