Wood comparison
Suarwood vs oak — which suits your interior?
Oak is the European standard for dining tables: familiar, robust, available in every furniture store. Suarwood is the tropical counterpart with a completely different silhouette and price point. This page compares them without picking sides.
Choose oak for a calm, timeless look in solid European wood. Choose suar for the dramatic live-edge silhouette with the cream sapwood band you cannot replicate in oak. For monumental table sizes (from 280 cm) suar is often the only single-slab option.
1. Slab width and silhouette
European oak yields slabs up to about 80 cm wide from one tree. A 240 cm long table at 100 cm depth in solid oak therefore needs two or three boards glued together — which gives you a straight table but never a true live-edge piece.
Suarwood from Indonesia grows to 150 cm trunk diameter, so a 100 cm deep live-edge table comes from a single slab. The natural curve of the trunk stays visible on both long sides, with the cream sapwood band as design feature. Visually heavier and more organic than oak.
2. Colour and patina
Untreated oak starts light honey-brown and deepens to warm golden brown as it ages. Oiled or waxed it stays stable. White-oiled or painted is a popular Scandinavian choice.
Suarwood has a naturally warmer, darker palette: chocolate-brown heartwood with cream sapwood band. Patina deepens over years toward almost mahogany colour. Cannot be white-oiled without losing the signature contrast band.
3. Care and lifespan
Oak has less natural oil than tropical hardwoods. In a household you must wipe water and wine quickly, and re-oil or wax annually. Lifespan: generations.
Suarwood also has limited natural oil and requires similar care (hard-wax oil twice a year). It is slightly softer than oak, so pen marks or dropped objects can leave dings. But because it is solid and has no glue joints, it stays more dimensionally stable than a glued-up oak panel.
4. Price and origin
A 240 cm solid European oak table runs typically EUR 1,800 to EUR 3,000 at Dutch furniture retailers, depending on construction (glued boards vs single-slab). Single-slab oak in that size barely exists.
A comparable 240 cm suar live-edge table is EUR 2,000 to 2,500 with us. That premium over average European hardwood pays for shipping from Indonesia, the artisanal finishing, and the fact that it is one continuous slab.
| Attribute | Suarwood | Oak |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | Java + Bali plantation | Europe (NL, DE, FR) |
| Density (kg/m³) | ~600 | ~720 |
| Max slab width from one tree | 100-150 cm | 60-80 cm |
| Single-slab table possible | Yes, up to 440 cm | Rarely, max ~220 cm |
| Visual signature | Live-edge sapwood band | Crisp rectangle, visible medullary rays |
| Colour after 5 years | Deep mahogany brown | Warm golden brown |
| Maintenance | Hard-wax oil 2x/year | Oil/wax 1-2x/year |
| Transport CO₂ (NL) | Container Java → Rotterdam | Truck NL/DE → customer |
| Availability 280cm+ | Standard | Custom commission |
| Price guide 240cm table | EUR 2,000-2,500 | EUR 1,800-3,000 |
Vragen / Questions
- Is oak more sustainable than suarwood because it comes from Europe?
- Not automatically. European oak has shorter transport, but is often harvested from older forests that need 60-100 years to reach furniture grade. Suarwood on Java grows to harvest size in 25-40 years in agroforestry systems where it also shades other crops. Per kg of furniture wood the footprint is comparable; container shipping is real but spreads across hundreds of items per container.
- Can I combine a suar table with oak chairs?
- Yes, and it is a common combination in Dutch interiors. The cream sapwood band of suar reads calmly next to light oak. Choose chairs in lighter oak (white-oiled or natural) to play off the contrast with the dark suar heartwood.
- Which wood is harder, suar or oak?
- Oak is slightly harder (Janka hardness ~5060 N) than suar (~3500 N). In practice you only notice the difference under daily heavy load (e.g. a commercial restaurant). For home use both perform fine for years.
- Will I get 'real' Indonesian suar or a European imitation?
- We import directly from Java and supply each table with an origin certificate listing the tree's location and block number. Imitations exist (often glued mango or stained eucalyptus), recognisable by the missing sharp contrast band between heart and sap.
- Which to pick if you are unsure?
- If you want a conventional rectangular dining table that fits any Dutch interior: pick oak. If you want a statement piece with the organic live edge that anchors the entire room: pick suar. We show you both silhouettes in our Hengelo showroom without sales pressure.