[philo13]

Other then the "traditional" thing, why is most or all of the wood work on sailing boats usually teak?

 

[JohnRPollard]

Other then the "traditional" thing, why is most or all of the wood work on sailing boats usually teak?

Because it is extremely rot resistant and therefor highly suitable to the marine environment. At least, as far as exterior wood goes.

Teak is used on interiors as well, but you also see lots of other woods. Cherry is a nice choice.

 

[Leither]

As well as being a "hard" wood (like mahogany and many other woods), teak has a high oil content which makes it very resistant to rot and to drying out and splitting.

Stuart

 

[davidpm]

It is about the only wood that if left untreated in an exterior marine environment will weather out to a nice look. Most if not all other woods will deteriorate quickly.
Be aware that Teak is very soft and easily damaged by shoes, scrapers etc.

 

[CalebD]

It is expensive, it is pretty and it is brittle as it dries out. It gives a boat owner something to finish with oil, varnish, Cetol, Bristol Finish etc., or nothing. It is traditionally used on boats as it is well suited for the marine environment.
Did I mention that it is expensive? Marine teak costs even more.

 

[deniseO30]

more reasons are; teak has silica in it. it's the only wood that is not slippery when wet. (why it's used for decks) it's stable wet and dry, hardly any swelling and shrinking.

 

[nightowle]

It's a conspiracy by boat products companies, WM and other chandleries to keep us perpetually buying and endless array of teak cleaners, varnishes, oils, urethanes, etc. etc. and forever chat and blog about our choices with fellow boaters!! :laugher

 

[Omatako]

So Liether says it's a "hard wood" and DavidPM says its "very soft".

Interesting debate.

I'll go with "hard", I've never heard of teak described as "soft" before now.

 

[JomsViking]

Looking at the tooling after running a few planks through them, makes me opt for hard too (although the silica is partly responsible for the damage to the tooling)

 

[ceol]

some information about Teak from Wikipedia. it is classified as a hardwood because it is a deciduous tree. whether or not the wood is actually "hard" or "soft" does not matter in the classification. it just tends to be that deciduous trees are harder than coniferous trees.

G~

 

[Leither]

Hmm. I have always thought of teak as a hard wood similar in density to mahogany. However, this chart:

Hardwood hardness chart - Wood Species Relative Hardness Table

supports those who declare it to be a bit on the soft side! Interesting.

Incidentally, I fully support the conspiracy theory. There is a niche market which would collapse if we all decided to leave our teak untreated.....

Stuart

 

[bobmcgov]

Teak is about the same hardness as Honduran mahogany, which is to say medium density. Good strength-to-weight. It sands easily but can be difficult to cut (and hard on tools) because teak grows in silicaceous soils and takes vitreous silica up into the wood. Throws off sparks, too. But the wood itself is of modest hardness compared to, say, jatoba or locust. There is a substantial hardness difference between annular earlywood and latewood, which causes a 'corduroy' effect similar to gymnosperms like douglas fir. So it's famously non-skid.

Teak is prone to grain checking and suffers rollover failure along crisp edges, but it generally doesn't exhibit running splinters like oak, cypress, or phillipine mahogany (shorea spp.).

Along with oils, which are common in tropical species, teak contains waxy nodules in its grain called tyloses; these help with water resistance and are found in many rot-resistant woods like mahog, white oak, and black locust. More info that you really wanted, eh?