Teak Refinishing

[FreeBeeTony]

Whats the best method of refinishing teak? I want to give the cabin doors on my '78 Grady a face lift. Looks like they have a coat of varnish on them. Should I use some kind of stripper and then put a new finishing coat on? How about polyurethane?

 

[JB]

Re: Teak Refinishing

Howdy, FBT.<br /><br />Varnish is a poor finish for teak. Teak is an oily wood and the varnish will crack and peel in just a few years.<br /><br />Oil is the proper finish.<br /><br />Strip or sand all varnish off. Clean and brighten the wood with Star-Brite Teak Cleaner and Star-Brite Teak Brightener. Then 4 to 6 coats of Star-Brite Teak Oil.<br /><br />Reoil once or twice a season, depending on how much sun the wood is exposed to.<br /><br />Star-Brite is not the only set of products for this. It is what I use. Some prefer other brands.<br /><br />Good luck.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Teak Refinishing

FBT, JB is right on this, don't doubt the experience of our elders. I refinished my wood trim last spring. Used exterior poly that was guarenteed to last. Yeah Right! By the end of the past season, just about all the poly had flaked off. So now since I didn't have the time to do it right the first time, I have to make time to do it over. Poly is only good for trim that is not exposed to the UV rays. The trim inside my cabin looks just as good as it did when I refinished it.<br /><br />Sorry JB for not following your suggestions. Another case where the Ancient Mariner was right.<br /><br />Good Luck....SS

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: Teak Refinishing

Thanks guys, glad I asked before I did anything. Another question: how do I know if it's teak? I was assuming it was teak.

 

[flashback]

Re: Teak Refinishing

Teak as old as yours can be varnished successfully if it is coated on all sides.. although it is true that it has a lot of oil in it when new. I use epoxy with a sun bloc mixed in, I remove the wood, sand it down to clean wood, and coat it on all sides with 5-6 coats. then I put another 5-6 coats of varnish on top, sanding in between coats. the wood is beautiful and will last a very long time if you keep varnishing it twice a year..I have done this to many boats and it has worked very well, It is a lot of work......." how can i tell if it is teak" ,Teak has a very unique look to it, if it is left to the elements, it will turn a dirty grey color, if it has teak oil on it it will be a cloudy golden brown, if it is varnished, it will be a bright golden brown with a very beautiful grain.

 

[Columbia]

Re: Teak Refinishing

I lifted this from another BB:<br /><br />When you coat a 'soft' wood like teak or a slightly harder wood like mahagony with inorganic transparent finishes, all you are doing is coating dead-but-still-living and vapor-permeable moving substrate with an inorganic semi-transparent set of coatings that are out of accord with the expansion ratios with the substrate, where under the sun the natural oils will exude, oxidise and lift the varnish.<br /><br />If effect, wood changes with the weather, and varnish is hard and unchanging, hence, it breaks and lifts at seams and corners. Mahogany holds varnish much better than teak and other oily woods. There are people searching for the 'perfect' shiny finish for teak all the time!! I had no real answer so I posted this....

 

[Spidybot]

Re: Teak Refinishing

WHAT? Teak should be SOFT wood? Don't think so!<br /><br />Teak is one of the few woods that you can use in marine environment without doing anything at all to it. I turns grey OK, but it will last. Clean or sand it, add oil or oil with tanning properties if you like it colored - the teak keeps anyway.<br /><br />By oiling it and keeping it clean you preserve the nice looks. The warm, golden looks is very nice indeed - but the wood itself lasts very well without it.<br /><br />This, ofcourse, provided it is TEAK - some of the teak look-alike exotic 'hardwood' isn't worth nothing! To be used for garden furniture you keep inside.....

 

[Columbia]

Re: Teak Refinishing

Sorry to upset UU... My experience is that teak is not as hard as many woods though it is fairly hard. The real issue was not about the hardness of teak but the ability of teak to accept and hold varnish and the properties of varnish. I didn't write that, I merely pasted it 'cuz I thought it was fun. In my experience, there are several locales from which teak comes nowadays and the mechanical properties and durability vary a fair bit, most especially in plantation teak. Plantation teak is grown more rapidly and has, like any plantation wood, larger growth rings, more soft interstitial wood, hence less density, etc. According to World Woods in Color (Lincoln) teak originated in Burma, India, SE Asian areas and was introduced into Africa and the Carribean areas. I've seen and used a fair bit of plantation teak from Central America and it has less weight, density, more movement, etc. than Burma or Thai teak, for example. I love teak. I go to Goodwill and other thrift shops and buy old Burma Teak cheeseboards, replane them, and make smaller items from them. I likely have 70-80 on hand right now for a couple bucks a square foot. That doesn't mean it holds varnish well as doors or caprails or cabin sides exposed to outside influences. That's more about varnish than teak. Not, by the way, that I favor varnish for outside wood. I've had good luck with paint on teak but that's more about the paint than the teak. On my boats I have either painted or let teak handrails, toerails, etc go gray rather than mess with varnish. My favorite rule of thumb is "Three coats varnish lasts one year, one coat of paint last three years."

That was all I was posting.

 

[beckerdg]

Re: Teak Refinishing

I keep giving the advice I read and tried on one of these boards. Use a good clear wood sealer. When I used oil the wood greyed or turned black in less than one season requiring additional cleaning and reapplication very quickly. Clean the old finish off and use a good clear wood sealer. If you want some additional color pick one that is has a gold oak tint. Looks a lot like oiled teak and lasts over a year withoth turning grey or black. I wipe it down in the spring with a little extra sealer and am good for a year.

 

[jfc092]

Re: Teak Refinishing

Has anyone tried boiled linseed oil on teak and had good results? It's probably 3 times less expensive than teak oil.

 

[crazy charlie]

Re: Teak Refinishing

I have been there and done that many times Tony.I have a rule that has been fool proof.If it is inside the boat,clean with teak cleaner and brightner and lightly sand and use a high quality teak oil,as many coats as it will absorb and it may take several days to apply and absorb.If it is outside the cabin,i do the same steps in preperation and instead of finishing with oil,I finish it with 3 coats of Cetol marine.If you bronze wool between coats do 4 coats then.Your teak will look great and the maintenance will be almost none for at least a few years.Charlie

 

[Spidybot]

Re: Teak Refinishing

Nah - no worries. I'm not upset <br /><br />When talking about teak - ol' fashion teak as used in marine applications before we got all those different kinds of 'modern hardwood', generated by commercial interest, I agree with Old Sailor. The thing is, that every now and then manufacturers (or folks renovating) use the cheaper, poorer quality and it has none of the properties of good quality teak.

 

[Captn Dave]

Re: Teak Refinishing

I've always had the best luck with the two part cleaners. I think it was Teka that I used. One part is an alkali solution and the other is an acid. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. Apply with nylon bristle paint brushes and use a short bristle scurb brush. And use rubber gloves. It is very, very, messy but it does work wonders. And if you want to brighten it some more, finish with bleach and rinse. Sometimes with old teak you'll raise the grain by repeated cleanings and it will require sanding to get back to a smooth surface. After letting the teak dry out, put several coats of a sealer on. I used Tip Top Teak. I don't "think" Grady uses a polyurethane on their teak. It's just a sealer. But I'm not sure. Try cleaning a small spot. Me, myself, would never, ever, seal any exterior teak. That is, unless I won the lottery, I'd let the mate be responsible for keeping the finish up on my 65 sport fisherman. <br />And after having said all of that, now living in sunny FLA, with the boat being in the sun and weather a lot longer, I no longer clean and seal as described above. I just clean with bleach a couple times a year and leave it natural. The reason being is that I found the sealers don't last too long in the hot sun. But these are areas that are constantly exposed.

 

[Seaplane1978]

Re: Teak Refinishing

Believe it or not, Automatic Transmission Fluid does a fine job on Teak. Give it a shot......

 

[crazy charlie]

Re: Teak Refinishing

The auto transmission for teak oil trick is only if you are selling the boat.If you are keeping it ,the smell will be unbearable as long as it looks good.when it starts to look crappy again is when the smell goes away.Charlie

 

[POINTER94]

Re: Teak Refinishing

Spent a majority of my childhood making my dads Carver look good. The boat is a 1976 and it still looks great to this day. Bleaching powders with water and a long bristle brush work fine. Every 5 or so years you need to sand a little to clean up areas hard hit by UV or blight.<br /><br />For years we used a mixture of tongue and lemon oil and it looked great. It would give you about a season or less in Wisconsin. It is like any wood, it requires attention to look good. Personally I never liked the varnish look but thats why there is more than one beer at the liquor store.