Teak wood is graded by appearance, knots (their location) and by the kind of wood.

These are three main grades in teak wood.

Grade A teak wood is produce from the center of the tree (the densest, strongest part of the tree). It will be produced from a tree 45  years of age or more.  Characteristics of Grade A teak wood are a close grain, warm/honey color, oil rich and knot free.   This kind of wood is used in machine made teak furniture.

Grade B teak wood has a warm color with occasional streak of black and some splotches and discoloration. This grade B teak has more knots per liner feet. It is commonly used in semi-machine made products.  Semi-machine made implies that personnel use electric saws to cut the wood, but there is no concept of jig and fixture to make all the slats the same size. Semi machine also means that the tenons float in the mortise (the joint is not exact and there are gaps). This is usually filled with epoxy for complete assembled, because the end customer would not tolerate the sloppiness.  Unfortunately, this epoxy will eventually fall out of the gaps after multiple rains and the furniture will have a very unattractive appearance.

Grade C teak wood has dark a color in places, mixed with a very white color in place know as sapwood. There is an allowance for dead knots (where the knot was weak, has begun gouged out and filled with epoxy or putty). These knots may be on the top or bottom side. Grade C teak wood is most often use in hand crafted outdoor furniture. This is completely outsourced to the village industry and follows no process for kiln-drying. Hand crafted also means that the tenons float in the mortise ( the joint is not exact, there are gaps). Again, this is usually filled with epoxy and generally the furniture comes completely assembled over time.

In Summary: Grade A teak wood will most likely be machine made and has the highest quality wood.  All of Atlanta Teak's furniture is constructed using Grade A, center-cut teak wood.

Visit www.atlantateak.com to view all of our premium teak furniture.