Burma Teak Premium Grade
Also known as Burmese teak, Myanmar teak · Botanical Tectona grandis
Revision history
- — Data re-verified in site-wide audit (formulas, sources, durability classes)
- — Working properties and comparable-species data cross-checked against listed sources
About Burma Teak Premium Grade
Burma Teak Premium Grade is a mid-range timber, hard enough for everyday wear and still easy to work, with a Janka hardness of 1,070 lbf (4,759 N) and a density of about 0.66 g/cm³. It grows in India and South Asia.
At 2.5% radial and 5.0% tangential the T/R ratio is 2.00 — typical, and manageable in exterior joinery and cladding provided the gaps are designed rather than assumed. Its fibre saturation point is near 27%. Below it movement is modest at 5.0% tangential, but the 2.00 T/R ratio means one-sided sealing will still pull a panel out of flat.
At 660 kg/m³ a cubic metre of Burma Teak Premium Grade weighs about 660 kg air-dry — that figure, the 5.0% tangential and 2.5% radial movement and the 1,070 lbf hardness are the three inputs the calculators below actually consume. Select Burma Teak Premium Grade in any of them to get species-specific results for weight, moisture, shrinkage and hardness.
Working properties
How Burma Teak Premium Grade behaves at the bench and on the machine, drawn from timber-trade technical references and the same institutional data as teak (Tectona grandis).
Durability & use classification
This is very durable (EN 350 Class 1) teak — the same species as Teak (Tectona grandis), distinguished by grade rather than botany. What the “Burma premium” label actually denotes is slow-grown, old-growth natural-forest material: tighter growth rings, higher density, and higher natural oil and silica content than fast-grown plantation teak, which reaches harvest in 20–30 years with wider rings and more pin knots. Sourcing is the critical issue. Burmese teak is subject to international sanctions and trade restrictions: the US Lacey Act and the EU Timber Regulation prohibit illegally harvested timber, and Myanmar teak frequently cannot demonstrate compliance. Restrictions intensified after the 2021 coup. Buy only with verifiable, documented chain of custody — old, legally imported stock and reclaimed timber are the routes reputable traders use.
Typical applications & suitability
Indoor Outdoor — The historic benchmark for marine and exterior work. For yacht decks and extreme exposure it remains the preference; for the majority of architectural uses, well-grown plantation teak performs comparably at far lower legal and commercial risk.
Documented end-uses: yacht and boat decking (its defining application), luxury furniture and cabinetry, high-end joinery, doors and window frames, flooring, and coastal and outdoor furniture.
Comparable species
Species closest to Burma Teak Premium Grade by density, hardness, stiffness and bending strength, computed directly from the Vriksai species dataset rather than hand-picked.
Trade alternatives. Mature plantation teak — the identical species grown in Indonesia, Latin America or Africa — is the mainstream, certifiable alternative, and Indian Nilambur teak is regarded as the closest match on density and oil. For teak-like durability without the paperwork, Iroko. Note that grade claims are widely abused in the trade; insist on species, region and grade in writing.
Alternatives to Burma Teak Premium Grade
Burma Teak Premium Grade measures 1,070 lbf Janka at 0.66 g/cm³, EN 350 durability Class 1, movement rated Moderate. Because Burma Teak Premium Grade is exterior-rated at Class 1, every candidate below is too. A substitute that quietly drops a durability class is the expensive kind of mistake. Read the numbers against the Janka scale and EN 350 durability classes.
For exterior joinery, cladding and garden work that also has to resist knocks. Harder means more dent resistance but heavier sections and more machining time.
Easier to work and lighter to fix, without dropping below the exterior durability you already have.
Cladding boards and exterior joinery live or die on movement. These give you less of it at equal or better durability. Size the gaps with the shrinkage predictor and EMC calculator.
If Burma Teak Premium Grade is unavailable and the specification cannot change, these are the nearest substitutes across hardness, density, movement, stiffness, bending strength and durability class together — not on any single property. Lower distance means a closer match.
Computed from measured properties only — hardness, density, movement, stiffness, bending strength and EN 350 class. Price, availability and appearance are never inputs. Figures are representative values, not consignment absolutes: two species within a few percent are equivalent until verified on the material. Full method and the rules the engine cannot break.
Substituting outdoors is a match on durability class and movement first. Colour and grain can be matched later; a wrong durability class shows up as a callback in three monsoons. Where two candidates are close, compare them directly before specifying.
Compare Burma Teak Premium Grade side by side
These are the head-to-heads that decide cladding, decking and exterior joinery specifications. Every pairing shows the measured figures side by side; full matrix in the comparison index.
Calculators relevant to Burma Teak Premium Grade
Aimed at exterior detailing in Burma Teak Premium Grade: coverage, gaps, coating and durability checks. Full set in the tool index.
Understand the figures
Wood density reference — oven-dry vs air-dry basis · Moisture content — EMC, FSP and service conditions · Strength properties — MOR, MOE and what they govern · Durability & fire — EN 350 classes and E84 ratings.
Further reading. ThermoWood vs Teak · Wood moisture content explained · How to calculate board feet.
Common questions about Burma Teak Premium Grade
unverified no published source for this figure · PROSEA PROSEA 5(1), Plant Resources of South-East Asia · calc derived from the figures above · — no published source found
Where these figures come from. Density is checked against PROSEA 5(1): Timber trees — major commercial timbers (Sosef, 1993, Tectona grandis record), which gives (480–)610–750(–850) kg/m³ at 12% moisture content — the 660 kg/m³ above sits inside the typical band, as you would expect for premium-grade Burmese stock. Hardness, MOR, MOE and shrinkage are not verified for this grade: PROSEA does not tabulate them separately for Burma-grown teak, and no other authority we can reach does either. Note also that the USDA FPL gives teak a specific gravity of 0.55 (550 kg/m³) at the same moisture content — two international bodies, same species, different figures, because they tested different material. That is normal for timber and worth knowing before you rely on any single number.