This morning I touched the metal door handle and the wooden shelf next to it, both sitting in the same hallway for hours. The metal felt shockingly cold, the wood barely cool. My first instinct was to think the metal was colder. I'd believed that for years, actually, until I measured both with a kitchen thermometer last month and saw identical readings. That small mistake taught me to question the obvious.
The real answer is thermal conductivity—how quickly a material moves heat away from your skin. Metal is an excellent conductor, so when your warm finger makes contact, heat rushes out of your skin and into the metal rapidly. Wood is a poor conductor; it holds heat in place, so your finger stays warmer. Both objects are at room temperature, but metal feels colder because it steals your body heat faster.
I ran a quick test this afternoon. I placed a metal spoon and a wooden chopstick in the freezer for ten minutes, then touched each for exactly three seconds. The spoon felt painfully cold; the chopstick was cold but tolerable. Same temperature, wildly different sensation. Then I warmed both in my hands and set them on the counter. The spoon cooled to room temperature in about two minutes. The chopstick took closer to five.