| | | | Teak is a close grained hardwood with high natural oil and rubber content. It is one of the hardest, strongest
and most durable of all timbers, highly resistant to any rotting and almost impervious to the effects of hot sun, rain, frost or snow. These characteristics combine to make it the ideal timber for all outdoor applications. It has been the number one choice of boat builders for centuries.
Many other hardwoods are used for outdoor furniture and in fact a lot are even marked as "teak substitutes". There is no substitute for teak and no other hardwood in the world will perform to
the same high quality standards as teak in outdoor conditions. Teak is simply the best hardwood in the world for outdoor furniture. |
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| | | Our teak wood:
TFM uses teak (tectona grandis) hardwood for exterior furniture applications. Teak is a dense and durable hardwood suitable for outdoor applications where resistance to the elements is required. Teak has
qualities unlike any other wood and is dense, rich in oil, almost impervious to splitting, buckling, and rot making it termite proof. Teak has been prized for centuries as one of the worlds most durable and stable woods for outdoor use. Traditionally used on boats and in outdoor furniture, teak has also been widely used for flooring/decking as well because of its superior ability to withstand the elements. When amortized over the years, taking into consideration its quality and
longevity, teak wood is one of the better investments around. Teak should be used wherever the distinguished look of one of the world's most prized woods is desired. Maintained properly, a quality piece of teak furniture will last for many generations.Javanese teak:
We use Javanese teak in the manufacturing of our furniture. The very first plantations on the island of Java were planted long ago by the Dutch, who were the colonial power
at the time, in the mid 1800s making them some of the oldest teak farms in the world. These plantations are now owned by the Indonesian government agency Perum Perhutani, which is responsible for the control of these teak farms allowing the felling of a limited number of trees each year and the reforestation of these farms. FSC or SmartWood Certification:
As of December 31, 2002, SmartWood (FSC) had formally suspended or terminated a total
of 37 chain of custody certified companies that were dependent on certified teak from Perum Perhutani. These suspensions were due to various circumstances: many companies had exhausted their stock of certified teak that had been purchased prior to the suspension of Perum Perhutani, October 20, 2001, or had stock too small to produce a significant order, or had not been able to adhere to SmartWood certification requirements. Furthermore, in November 2002, SmartWood announced to all companies
that had remaining certified stock that, in it's determination, ample time to produce and sell FSC products from those certified teak stocks had been given, and that they were now systematically suspending the remaining teak-dependent chain-of-custody certificates in Indonesia. Their decision was fundamentally based on the overriding interest to preserve the credibility of the FSC certificate, which numerous stake holders had warned us was a serious concern if such companies were still
engaged in any certified production over one year after the suspension of Perum Perhutani. As of January, 2004, the FSC certification has not been restored. However, there are still legal sources of timber verified by a certificate of forestry from the local timber management companies in each area of Indonesia where the teak wood is harvested. The facts about teak:
The Dutch colonialists in Java Indonesia planted seedlings of Teak
(Tectona Grandis, Teku) that originated from Thailand in the year of 1816. This was well documented. Fact: ALL teakwood is inherently tight grained. Those manufacturers who argue that there is a difference are in fact trying to "justify" by any deviant means that Burmese teakwood from Burma (f.k.a.Burma) is harvested from natural rain forests. There is no government program of reforestation. These marketers have even set up web sites that appear to be legitimate organizations about
caring for the natural teak forests. Teak poaching became such a problem in Thailand that recently the Thai government banned all teak logging until it could set up an authority such as the Indonesian model and establish reforestation. Poaching is rife in Burma and Laos today. Furthermore, those countries have absolutely no protection for the exploitation of children in their furniture factories.
We use legally harvested teak and we supply our customers with a certificate of forestry
from our locally operated teak forest management company. All wood used in our furniture is from a legally harvested source. Your order will always be accompanied by a certificate of legally harvested timber.<<<end>> |
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