Teak for Millwork, Cabinet and Furniture Shops — Chicago Direct Importer
A Chicago dock with teak on it, and no one between you and the importer
We import Ecuadorian plantation teak (Tectona grandis) and hold roughly 10,000 saleable board feet of dimensioned stock in Lincolnwood, Illinois. There is no distributor tier. You deal with the importer, you grade the boards yourself at our dock, and you buy on a tally taken while your representative watches. For a shop that has been sourcing teak through a yard in another state or a broker who has never seen the pile, that is a different way of working.
Legally imported, plantation-grown Ecuadorian teak — CBP-entered, duty-paid.
Trade quotes same day. Norman: (773) 584-7334, info@platinumluxuryteak.com. See the trade page for terms.
Stock specification
- Species: Tectona grandis, Ecuadorian plantation-grown.
- Heartwood-dominant on both faces.
- Dimensioned stock in trade widths 2 to 7 inches; thicknesses ¾ inch to 1 inch; lengths 1 to 8 feet.
- Sold by the board foot on a 4/4 nominal basis.
- We make no NHLA grade claim — grade it yourself at our dock.
- Tally at loading with your representative present governs the invoice.
Four classes
| Class | Length | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Long Premium | 7 to 8 ft | Tabletops, long panels, full-height casework, run-length trim |
| Mid-Length | 5 to 6 ft | Cabinet parts, doors, drawer fronts, seating components |
| Short Stock | 1 to 4 ft | Small casework, drawer parts, cutting boards, knife scales, turning; parcel nationwide, free will-call |
| Face-Frame / Edge-Banding | 7 to 8 ft, 2 in and under | Face frames, edging, applied moldings, laminated legs; sorted narrow so you are not ripping wide boards for stiles |
The Face-Frame class is the one shops ask about most. Narrow stock in long lengths is normally the waste stream of a wide-board operation; we sort it as its own class so a kitchen or a run of built-ins can be face-framed in teak without paying for width you will rip off.
Where the material goes
Kitchen and bath cabinetry, architectural millwork and paneling, casework for commercial interiors, dining and occasional tables, seating, and edge-banding to match solid teak faces on veneered panels. Teak's oil content and stability make it forgiving in wide glue-ups and in panels that will see seasonal humidity swings inside a building. Its silica content is hard on tooling; plan for carbide and more frequent sharpening than with walnut or cherry.
How trade buying works here
- Tell us the job. Cut list, board-foot estimate, or just the product you build. We will say what we have that fits and quote it the same day.
- Pricing. Retail prices are published on each product page; trade and volume pricing is quoted separately and is materially different. Volume and whole-lot pricing is on the whole-lot page.
- Inspect and grade. Book a dock appointment. You or your lead pull boards, set aside what you do not want, and grade to your own standard. You inspect before paying.
- Tally and load. We tally at loading with your representative present. That tally is the invoice.
- Paperwork. Resale certificates accepted (Illinois CRT-61 or state equivalent). W-9 on request. No minimum order, so a trial pull for one job is fine.
Pickup and freight
Will-call is free by appointment at the Lincolnwood dock, which puts most of Chicagoland, the North Shore and the near suburbs within an hour's drive with your own truck. For shops beyond driving range, we quote LTL freight to your address; Short Stock ships by parcel nationwide.
Why a direct importer is worth the drive
- You see the pile. Not a photograph of someone else's pile, and not a grade description written by someone paid on volume.
- One margin, not three. Importer to shop. The pricing on the trade side reflects that.
- Sorted by use. Four classes by length and width so you buy the board that fits the part.
- Provenance on paper. Legally imported, plantation-grown Ecuadorian teak — CBP-entered, duty-paid. Entry documentation is available for a specifier or client who asks.
We also hold twenty single-slab live-edge Saman (Samanea saman) tables for shops that are asked to supply a finished conference or dining table on a project. Those are on the Saman table collection.
Get a quote
Send the cut list or the board-foot estimate and we will quote it the same day. Browse the lumber collection, review the trade terms, or use the contact form.
Norman — (773) 584-7334 — info@platinumluxuryteak.com.