Outside is a different sport. Indoors, a finish mostly negotiates with spills and keys; outdoors the opponents are ultraviolet light, standing water, and fifty-degree temperature swings — and they play every day. Most furniture hardwoods lose that match no matter what you coat them with. The woods that win carry their defense inside the board itself.
Teak — the benchmark
Teak is what every outdoor wood gets measured against, and the reasons are chemical, not romantic: the heartwood is loaded with natural oils and silica that repel water and resist rot from the inside out. It's why ship decks, estate benches, and pool-house counters have run on teak for centuries. At Formhaus, teak runs as a custom-order board — quoted per project — because the species we stock for outdoor work delivers the same defense at a working price.
Iroko — the stocked answer
Iroko is that species: called African teak for over a century, and the nickname is earned where it counts. The same essential virtues — naturally decay-resistant, stable, happy in the weather — at a distinctly friendlier price, and it's actually harder on the Janka scale (about 1,260 to teak's 1,070). Fresh boards run yellow-gold and deepen toward a rich brown as they see light. For a patio's worth of restaurant tables, iroko is usually the number that makes the project work — and it prices live in the configurator.
The honorable mention: White Oak
White Oak is the domestic that can hold its own outside — its pores are plugged with tyloses, which is why it built barrels and boats long before it built dining tables. It wants a bit more maintenance than teak or iroko outdoors, but if the project calls for a domestic species or that specific oak read, it's a legitimate exterior choice.
Silver, or kept?
Every durable outdoor wood offers the same fork in the road. Leave it alone and UV turns the surface a uniform silver-grey — a patina, not a failure; the board underneath stays sound. Or oil it on a schedule (once or twice a season, more in hard sun) and keep the golden color you bought. Neither answer is wrong; decide before delivery so day one matches the plan.
How to spec it
Configure the top in Iroko — it prices live — and talk to the shop about the exterior finish plan: outdoor work generally wants a dedicated exterior oil regimen rather than an interior coating, and many owners order outdoor pieces Unfinished and run the oil themselves from day one. If the project truly calls for teak, send the same spec through the custom path and the shop will quote the board. Either way, tell us the piece lives outside when you order.