Teak, cedar, acacia or eucalyptus? Choosing the wood for an outdoor bench

Walk into any garden furniture section and every bench looks roughly the same: slats, legs, a back. The differences that matter are invisible from a product photo, and almost all of them come from one thing - the wood.

Pick the right species and a bench lasts decades with a coat of oil a year. Pick the wrong one for your climate and you will be shopping again in three summers.

The one question that narrows everything down

How much maintenance are you actually willing to do?

Be honest here. Almost every disappointment with a wooden bench traces back to this answer being wrong at the point of purchase.

• Almost none. You want teak, or a bench that lives under cover.
• One afternoon a year. Cedar or acacia, with an annual clean and oil.
• I enjoy working on it. Eucalyptus or even pressure-treated pine becomes viable, and you save real money.

There is no wood that needs nothing and costs little. That product does not exist, and any listing implying otherwise is marketing.

Teak - the benchmark

Teak is the reference point every other wood gets measured against, and the reason is chemistry rather than luck. It is dense, it is rich in natural oils and rubber, and those two things together resist rot, insects and moisture swings better than anything else commonly used outdoors.

The practical consequences:

• It can stay outside all year in most climates, uncovered.
• It does not need oiling to survive - only to keep its colour.
• Left alone it silvers to a soft grey. That grey is weathering, not decay, and it is completely sound wood underneath.

What you pay for that is weight and price. A 5-foot teak bench is genuinely heavy, so think about whether you will want to move it around. And the price is the reason teak gets faked: check that a listing says Grade A plantation teak, not "teak-finish" or "teak-look".

Cedar - the value pick for damp climates

Western red cedar is the sensible default for most people, and it is underrated precisely because it is affordable rather than cheap-feeling.

Cedar contains oils and extractives that insects and fungi dislike, so it handles rain and humidity well. It is also a poor conductor of heat, which matters more than people expect: a cedar bench left in full sun is sitable in the afternoon, while a dense hardwood bench in the same spot can be uncomfortably hot.

The trade-off is hardness. Cedar is soft, so it dents and dings. Look for:

• Seat slats at least 1 inch (25 mm) thick.
• Frames that are joined - mortise and tenon, dowel, or mortise-and-screw - not just screwed through end grain.
• Stainless or galvanised hardware. Cedar is mildly corrosive to bare steel fixings, and rust streaks on a light-coloured bench are ugly and permanent.

Left unfinished, cedar silvers. Oiled once a year, it keeps that warm reddish tone.

Acacia - hardwood look at softwood money

Acacia is dense, heavy and takes an oil finish beautifully, which is why it dominates the mid-price hardwood section. If you want the look and heft of a hardwood bench without teak money, this is usually the answer.

Its weakness is moisture movement. Acacia expands and contracts with the seasons, and when it dries out it can check - fine surface cracks that are cosmetic early on and structural if ignored.

So acacia asks one thing of you: keep it fed. Two coats of exterior wood oil a year, or a breathable cover when it is not in use. Do that and an acacia bench is a genuine bargain. Skip it and you will own a cracked one.

Eucalyptus - the middle path

Eucalyptus sits between acacia and teak on almost every axis: price, density, durability. It is fast-growing, so it is widely available with FSC certification, which matters if sustainability is part of your decision.

The variable is finishing quality. Eucalyptus benches come from a lot of different factories, and rough-sanded slats will splinter within a season. When you read reviews, look specifically for complaints about splinters and rough spots rather than general satisfaction scores.

Pressure-treated pine - cheap, and honest about it

Pressure-treated pine is the cheapest real-wood option and, treated properly, it resists rot well. What it does not resist is movement: it warps, cups and splits more than anything else on this list, and it needs a sealer every year.

It is a reasonable choice for a bench that lives under a covered porch, or for a first bench you do not want to over-invest in. It is a poor choice for an exposed garden spot you want to look good without work.

Quick comparison

Two things that matter more than the species

Joinery and hardware. A cheap bench made from good wood still fails at the joints. Mortise-and- tenon, dowelled or bolted construction outlasts screwed-through-end-grain construction regardless of species.

Slat thickness. Seat slats thinner than about an inch flex, and flexing is what eventually cracks them. This is the single most useful spec to check on any listing.

If you are still narrowing it down, the best picks by use case page sorts the whole market by climate and budget, and the sizing guide covers the measurements that catch people out once the bench arrives.