Teak vs walnut

The two woods dominate mid-century casegoods, and they are worth very different amounts: a Danish cabinetmaker's teak credenza and an American walnut dresser from the same year can sit ten times apart in price. On a photo the two are genuinely hard to separate, which is why so many listings say "teak" about walnut and the reverse. These are the tells, in the order to check them.

Grain

Teak shows a fine, straight, slightly oily grain, often with thin darker striping and an uneven golden ribbon where the boards were cut. Walnut shows a broader, softer grain with occasional swirl and cathedral figures, and its colour runs from milk chocolate to purplish brown rather than honey. If the surface reads as smooth and striped like ribbon mahogany, lean teak; if it reads as flowing and figure-heavy, lean walnut.

Colour under different light

Teak moves toward amber and honey in daylight and can look dull brown indoors. Walnut stays brown in both and carries a slight purple or grey cast. A piece that photographs golden in a living room and drab in a garage is behaving like teak. This is why the Photo guide asks for the front in daylight.

The veneer edge, which settles it

Almost all teak casegoods are veneered, and the drawer fronts and top edges show a thin slice of teak glued over a lighter core — often visible at a chipped corner as a distinctly different pale band. Solid walnut construction was common in American pieces, so a drawer front that is solid wood through its thickness is weak evidence for walnut, not proof. Photograph the edge where the veneer is chipping and you have the single most decisive detail in the set.

Origin and construction

Scandinavian makers favoured teak, rosewood and oak; American makers (Broyhill, Lane, Bassett, Dillingham, Kent Coffey) favoured walnut and pecan. A label or stamp resolves this faster than any grain pattern — check the back panel, the underside of drawers and inside the frame first. A drawer joint also helps: dense machine-cut dovetails with narrow pins point to US production; finer hand-finished joinery, finger joints and drawer bottoms resting in a groove are more common on Danish work.

Grain and colour are consistent with a wood species; they are not proof. The veneer edge, the label and the joinery are the details that carry the attribution — which is exactly what the Photo guide walks you through.

Read next: Danish furniture control stamps and how to identify Broyhill Brasilia.