Old teak furniture: what's behind the label "old teak"

In the furniture trade, “old teak” doesn’t mean an old piece of furniture. It means teak wood that has been used before and has been made into a new table, cabinet or bench. In English this is usually called reclaimed teak, and everything about where it comes from, how it compares with new teak and what labels such as FSC Recycled do and don’t guarantee is in reclaimed teak. This page covers only what you need to decode the label “old teak furniture”. For an overview of all kinds of teak, see types of teak.

What does the trade mean by “old teak”?

The Dutch retailer Teaktafels.nl, part of the furniture maker Souren, writes that old teak and reclaimed teak mean in effect the same thing: teak wood that has been used before, mainly from Java (Teaktafels.nl, Dutch). The Belgian shop TEAK2 also calls old teak “always recycled” (TEAK2).

The word “old” can mean three different things with teak, and adverts often mix them up:

You read…	Usually meant	See
old teak	a new piece made from previously used wood	reclaimed teak
vintage or antique teak furniture	a piece of furniture that is itself old, often Scandinavian design from the 1950s and 1960s	vintage teak
colonial teak	a style: dark-stained, with mouldings; in itself says nothing about the age of the wood or the piece	colonial teak

How old is old teak?

Honest answer: nobody knows exactly. Souren writes of its own old teak that no one knows the exact age; according to them, the wood may be more than a hundred years old, but it’s no longer possible to trace where each plank came from (Souren Furniture). An age on a price tag is therefore an estimate at best.

One wood, many names

Teaktafels.nl lists the names you’ll come across, including dengkleh, dingklik, lesung, kayu meja tua and driftwood, “and so on” (Teaktafels.nl, Dutch). Some names are a type of wood at one shop and a finish at another. So always ask exactly what’s meant.

The finishes: smooth, brushed, dingklik

With old teak in particular, the finish determines how the piece looks and feels:

• Planed smooth. The Dutch retailer Indoteak sells most of its furniture planed smooth and untreated (Indoteak, Dutch). TEAK2 points out that smooth, light teak is therefore not automatically plantation teak (TEAK2).
• Brushed. The surface is worked with a wire brush, by hand or semi-automatically. This removes the softer parts of the wood and leaves a rough surface with small bumps and hollows (Souren Furniture). According to TEAK2, brushing brings the natural oils to the surface, making the wood lighter in colour (TEAK2).
• Dingklik. At Indoteak, a rougher finish, then treated with a wax for an intense colour (Indoteak, Dutch).
• Brushed and polished. TEAK2 describes its most expensive old-teak finish as brushed and then polished, dark in colour (TEAK2).

Is old teak heavier or stronger than new teak? TEAK2 says so; Teaktafels.nl and Teakhuis say there’s no difference if the wood is properly dried and well made (Teaktafels.nl, Dutch, Teakhuis, Dutch). We found no independent research either way; more on that in reclaimed teak.

Old teak tables and cabinets

• Tables. According to Souren, an old teak dining table usually has a top of several planks, closed off at the ends with a cross plank (Souren Furniture). A top like that is made for indoors: an indoor table has glued boards without gaps and can crack outside (Souren Meubels, Dutch). A monastery table, as Souren calls it, is recognisable by its massive trestle feet and extra-thick top (Souren Furniture).
• Cabinets and sideboards. With solid wood, look at the drawers and doors: wood moves with humidity and temperature (Meijs Wonen, Dutch). An old teak cabinet doesn’t belong outside; drawers and doors swell when they get damp (Souren Meubels, Dutch).

Quick checklist

1. What does the name mean? Type of wood, finish, or both?
2. Which finish? Smooth, brushed, dingklik, polished? Treated with oil, wax or lacquer?
3. How was it dried? Wood from Indonesia is wet, and insufficiently dried teak can crack in a heated home (Teaktafels.nl, Dutch).
4. Accept the character. Knots, unevenness and inset repair pieces are part of this wood (Troedoor, Dutch). See the top in person if you can.
5. Origin or label? Ask; what a label does and doesn’t say is in reclaimed teak.

We deliberately don’t give prices: we found no public, well-founded price ranges we can stand behind.

Care

You care for old teak like other indoor teak; see indoor teak care and, for brushed teak and lacquer, the care section of reclaimed teak. Small cracks are a natural process and can close again; permanent cracks can be filled (Troedoor, Dutch).

Is an old teak piece badly damaged or dried out? Read how to go about restoring teak.