Is Plantation Teak As Powerful As Burmese Teak

For centuries, boat builders and furniture makers have preferred teak more than any other hardwood because of its tight grain pattern and innate stability.

Unfortunately, teak's natural benefits came at a high price. Now, the world's biggest remaining teak forests are situated inside the country acknowledged as Burma -- a place with a hideous environmental and human rights record. Fortunately, the growing supply of plantation teak is starting to erode Burma's grip on the teak marketplace whilst at the identical time driving down costs. So, is really a teak tree grown in say Latin America somehow inferior towards the teak tree grown in Burma?

Despite rumors to the contrary (often originating from people who wish to shield Asia's grip on the Teak trade), studies carried out by the USDA and India's Forest Investigation Institute have found that teak grown on plantations has equivalent, if not identical properties to teak grown in Southeast Asia's old-growth forests; it is surely every bit as gorgeous. And just like the old-growth teak imported from Southeast Asia, plantation teak possesses the same oily resins that resist moisture, termites, warping, and fungi. In other words, when cultivated effectively, plantation teak will be the exact same special and stunning developing materials preferred by shipbuilders, furniture makers and carpenters for centuries. The main distinction is that it does not contribute to the destruction of Asia's rain forests or finance Burma's oppressive military junta. So what does cultivated effectively mean, specifically? Because the teak trees grown in other components of the globe come straight from seedlings take from the forests of Southeast Asia, we know that they're genetically the same. The difference, needless to say, comes within the type of not nature, but nurture. Top teak forestry organizations practice what's identified as "slow growth" timber.

Plantation web sites are carefully selected to mimic the precipitation and soil characteristics of SE Asia. This makes it possible for teak plantations to cultivate timber devoid of the use of irrigation. This delivers two major rewards. First, it gives our plantation teak the same exotic grain patterns and durability that teak wood is famous for. Second, the lack of irrigation reduces the ecological footprint of forestry operations. Amongst the several environmental and social benefits of plantation teak, among the most compelling is price. Because of shorter shipping routes and trustworthy production, plantation teak can often be purchased at half the price of Burmese teak. That's a hard deal to beat -- particularly when you contemplate all the research. Getting Burmese teak is just not only much less inexpensive, it's borderline superstitious.