1. The single most important number is moisture content.
Every piece of wood is full of water. When that water moves in and out as the air changes, the wood expands and contracts. A piece kiln-dried to 8% moisture in an air-conditioned factory will absorb humidity until it reaches equilibrium with its environment — and Malaysia's equilibrium is closer to 14%. If the joinery doesn't allow for that swelling, the piece will crack, cup or pull itself apart at the joint.
We dry our timber to 11–13% before building, which is closer to ambient and means the piece will settle quickly without dramatic dimensional change. We will not build with anything drier than that.
2. Merbau is the workhorse, and there's a reason.
Merbau (Intsia bijuga / Intsia palembanica) is the timber we use for more of our solid-top dining tables than any other. It is dense, hard, dimensionally stable, naturally resistant to termites and beautiful when oiled. Borneo-grown merbau has a deep reddish-brown tone that darkens with age into something closer to mahogany.
The downsides: it is heavy, it is on the expensive side, and the yellow-orange sapwood will leach colour onto upholstery if you don't seal it properly. Specify only heart-wood and ask for confirmation in writing.
3. Chengal is special, and it deserves the respect.
Chengal (Neobalanocarpus heimii) is one of the world's hardest timbers. It is what your grandfather's house was built from. It is what a serious Peranakan dining table is built from. It is also slow-growing, increasingly protected and increasingly priced accordingly. We use it sparingly, mostly for pieces that have to last a hundred years.
Be wary of "chengal" sold cheap. There are several look-alikes on the Malaysian market that are sold as chengal but are not. We buy ours from two licensed suppliers and we will show you the timber certificates on request.
4. White oak handles the climate better than you'd think.
European white oak is not native, but kiln-dried and well-sealed it performs beautifully in Malaysian homes. The grain is consistent, the colour is light and neutral, and it takes oil finishes superbly. We use it for a lot of bedroom furniture and writing desks because it doesn't dominate a room.
Don't use it for outdoor or covered-patio pieces. The cell structure isn't dense enough for sustained tropical humidity over a decade. Save it for the indoors.
5. Walnut is gorgeous and slightly fragile.
American black walnut has a richness of grain and a depth of brown that nothing else matches. We use it for show pieces — entry consoles, occasional tables, the front of a media cabinet. We don't usually recommend it for a six-seater dining table that will see hot pans, water rings and children's homework. The grain is too open and the surface dents.
6. Teak is overrated indoors, underrated outdoors.
Teak (Tectona grandis) is the right timber for verandah and pool-side furniture in Malaysia. The natural oils that make it weather-resistant outdoors are exactly what makes it slightly oily to the touch indoors. For indoor pieces we mostly use it for kitchen worktops and chopping boards, where the oil resistance is an asset.
7. Rattan is a craft, not a fallback.
Rattan in tropical interiors has had a moment for several years now. Done well it is sculptural, breathable, light and timeless. Done badly it is cheap-looking, unravelled within a year and dust-trapping forever.
The difference is in the weave (hand-woven vs machine-wound), the binding (rattan strip vs synthetic), the sealing (cold-pressed shellac vs spray varnish) and the framing (hardwood vs steel hidden inside the cane). We do all of ours with hand-woven natural rattan from a Sabah cooperative, bound with rattan strip, sealed with shellac, on solid-wood frames.
8. The finish matters as much as the timber.
How a piece is finished determines how it will behave for the next twenty years. Factory polyurethane creates a plastic shell that looks perfect at year one and chips, peels and yellows by year five. Once the shell is broken, water gets to the wood and the timber goes bad.
Oil and wax finishes — applied by hand in many thin coats, then buffed — let the wood breathe, develop patina, and can be reapplied easily. They look slightly less perfect at year one and dramatically better at year ten. We use oil and wax on more than 90% of what leaves the workshop. If you want a high-gloss factory shell, we will be honest with you that we're probably not the right studio.
What to ask your maker
If you are commissioning a piece from anyone — us or someone else — here are the questions to ask:
- What is the timber species and where is it from?
- What is the moisture content the piece was built at?
- What joinery is used at the load-bearing junctions?
- What is the finish, and how often does it need re-applying?
- What is the warranty, and what is specifically excluded?
If a maker won't answer those questions in writing, walk away. The piece is one of the most-used objects in your house — you deserve to know what's in it.