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Outdoor Wood Comparisons

Today’s marketplace for wooden patio and outdoor furniture is confusing to say the least. As a manufacturer and distributor, we are concerned with the recent trend to create exotic names for substandard woods. With the introduction of “psuedo species” and renaming common or less desirable woods to sound exotic, not to mention marketers putting their “spin” on things, how is one to know? Below, we have done the best we can to educate you the consumer as to what some of these trends are.

We have spent some time to sort this out and you will find here “our honest take” on the woods available. We have also included some industry advice advising on what to look for or and what to be aware of. Our goal is to educate you, the consumer, so you can make the best and most informed decision for your individual application.

Why would we do this? As a manufacturer and distributor of outdoor furniture, we too have been impacted by this industry change. The difference is that we sell a high quality product at a wholesale price and some of our competition has stepped into the marketplace with a lesser product and a new exotic name to compete as if all were equal. All are not equal, and you the end users deserve to know this.

….....………..Being forewarned is being forearmed………………..

Outdoor woods used for patio furniture are primarily manufactured in the Pacific Asia Region of the world. Having said that, the misdirection regarding the types of wood used to construct most of this outdoor furniture is the deliberate decision of many European and U.S. marketers. We have found that our Pacific Asian manufacturers are honest and forthright in their presentation of the products and materials they select and use. They are happy to manufacture using any woods the distributor or consumer desire. So, the choice to use a lesser wood and call it some new exotic name is in fact a decision by European and U.S. Markets to increase profits at the expense of the uneducated consumer.

Here are the woods primarily being used in the manufacture of Patio Furniture from so called “Tropical Hardwoods”:

Balau	Kapur
Teak	Brazilian Cherry
Western Red Cedar	Jarrah
White Cedar	Kempas
Eucalyptus	Shorea
Nyatoh	Southern Yellow Pine
Cypress	Lenga
Solid Hardwood	Jatoba
Hardwood	Pau Marfin
Pinewood	Rubberwood
Keruing	Black Locust

First let’s address the “Psuedo Species” issue. Tropical and temperate hardwoods that are not native to the U.S. are often are marketed in the United States with new names that play on the rich heritage of domestic hardwoods like oak, cherry and maple. Here are some common examples:

The Pseudo Species

Marketing name	Is not	Really is
"Chilean cherry"	cherry	lenga
"Brazilian cherry"	cherry	jatoba
"Brazilian maple"	maple	pau marfin
"Patagonian maple"	maple	pau marfin
"Tasmanian oak"	oak	eucalyptus
"Rose River gum"	gum	eucalyptus
"Malaysian oak"	oak	rubberwood
"Australian Heritage oak"	oak	eucalyptus
"Australian Cypress"	cypress	pine
“European Robinia”		black locust

For example, so-called "Tasmanian oak" is not oak at all. It's eucalyptus from Down Under. "Brazilian Cherry" isn't cherry, either, and "Malaysian Oak" is actually rubberwood from tropical rubber tree plantations.

Our Grading System and Results

We’ve all seen the Good-Better-Best systems for grading things. We will use a similar method for this with these labels:

	Worst
	Economy
	Average
	Better Than Average
	Still The Best

For our grading criteria we considered a variety of factors like:

o How good does this wood perform outdoors

o How dense is the wood….density relates to how long it will last

o What is it’s resistance to insects that eat wood

o How does it perform in harsh climates…extreme sun, rain, cold (snow)

o How hard is the wood…will it maintain the shape of machined joints

Name	Still The Best	Better Than Average	Average	Economy	Worst

Balau	X
Teak	X
Eucalyptus		X
Nyatoh				X
Pine				X
Jarrah		X
White Cedar			X
Keruing			X
Kempas			X
Cypress			X
Kapur			X
Pine				X
Pinewood				X
Southern Yellow Pine				X
Black Locust				X
Lenga				X
Jatoba				X
Solid Hardwood					X
Rubberwood				X
Western Red Cedar			X
Par Marfin				X
Hardwood					X
Shorea			X

Here's a couple more notes and points worthy of mention:

	First we have Nyatoh. This is really the Asian rendition of pine, it is a softwood and not particularly good for furniture and they color the wood to look exotic. This wood is quite inexpensive and thus attractive to the large retailers. Nyatoh grows primarily in Indonesia and is really catching heat from the environmentalists because it is being stripped from the rainforest to meet the needs of the volume retailers.
	Balau is rated stronger and more durable than teak but is not on the endangered species list
	Teak is also always good, it’s just very expensive due to it’s endangered status. Plantation grown teak is not always the same species and some is a hybrid faster growing species
	Eucalyptus is coming mostly from S. America these days and they have experienced serious problems with many lesser wood types getting mixed with their lots of Eucalyptus
	Western Red Cedar is highly resistant to bugs, and great for this reason. But Western Red Cedar is a softwood and not great for outdoor furniture extended life
	Keruing is a very sappy wood and must be boiled before production to boil the sap out. We have heard reports of this wood being placed in the sun and still oozing sap after manufacture
	Shorea is a genus specie name, really Shorea Spp, unfortunately there are many types of wood in the general specie called Shorea, some really good and some not. This is like identifying that all spruces are evergreens but not all evergreens are spruces.
	Rubberwood is an excellent stable timber used for indoor furniture, not so good for outdoor
	Hardwood means any variety of mixed hardwoods including glued together scraps. Solid Hardwood just means they didn’t glue the pieces together to make a substrate. Similar to Rubberwood, Hardwoods may be good for indoors, but they typically do not have the durability required for outdoor use unless you paint and seal the wood completely and keep it that way.

Click here to learn more about Balau and see a technical comparison of:

"Teak Vs. Balau"

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