You’ve probably heard that the best quality teak wood for outdoor furniture is grade A teak. This of course is the timber taken from the mature heartwood of the teak tree. This wood is naturally high in oil content, which protects it from various forms of damage such as termites and other boring insects, mold, mildew, and various types of fungus growth.
But did you also know that there are differences in quality even among grade A teak? These differences come from the wood’s moisture content due to the practice (or lack thereof) of properly drying the wood before it’s used in construction, carpentry, or furniture-making.
The maximum moisture level that should be allowed in the wood is 12% moisture content. It the wood isn’t correctly dried to at least this level before being put together as furniture, it could then have problems when the wood eventually does dry out over time. These problems include splitting and warping, cracking and uneven shrinkage.
All these problems can be avoided by kiln drying the wood before it gets used to make anything. Drying teak wood in a kiln increases the cost of the final product, but it results in furniture that is long lasting to stand the test of time.
