Finishing teak?

Tiki

Hi over the years I have refinished the teak on the boat many times, mostly with oils, look good quick, but don't last too long exposed to the weather (about one season, two if your lucky).

So this year, because of a serious investment on a complete restoration, I thought I would varnish, at least on the helm pieces There under the protection of a hardtop.

Here are samples, about 7 coats of clear high gloss

 

Women are funny, You buy them a house, buy them cloths,
buy them food, tell them you love them. Turn your back for
one minute and they chew through the ropes and run off.

 

I have found that success with oil finishes has a lot to do with how finely the wood has been sanded. I've done a lot of oiling of wood gunstocks, furniture, and cabinetry and when prepping the wood, I've gone as far as 600 grit paper (which gets the wood to reflect light like a mirror), and then and only then oiled to the point of saturation.
What happens is the wood shines a lot more than it would if only sanded to 180 grit.
Unlike clear finishes such as polyurethane or varnish, oil depends entirely upon the shine produced in the wood before it gets coated.
Over time, if the wood is kept oiled, it develops a beautiful patina.
Not for abovedecks necessarily, but great for interior furnishings. Once correctly prepared, the oiling (especially tung oil) protects better than any other coating and should never require wooding.
You do it once, and simply renew the oil on a regular basis.

Alan

 

Thanks Alan,
That is good advice. I have never been successful with oil. That is why everything on my boat is bright. I want to oil the teak seats that are set up like decking and the handrails and cockpit grating. Would you still recommend the same pre application work? Which oil, or just stick with tung? 6-7 coats?

 

Especially with hardwood, the sheen before oiling is what creates the shine after oiling.
That said, my experience is limited to interior wood, as I described.
Products like Deks Olje (a two stage process, I think) are formulated for dealing with sun, rain, and salt air, but my experience has been with varnish outdoors on boats. This is primarily because I do so much painting relative to brightwork, so I can choose a finish for looks even if it is a bit more work.
Oil is oil, of course, so I'd experiment and compare a surface sanded to a high degree and another only sanded top maybe #180. My guess is you'll be surprised to find that oil can look pretty good when the wood is finely sanded.

 

Our lovely "Swift" is almost entirely teak and we found varnish very unsatisfactory - it peels easily because teak is so oily.
in our mega restoration job now were stripping right back and going for oils
would support PAR's advice post #7

 

Par beat me severely when I mentioned steel wool, I failed
to say, it was to be used in the shop during construction
and that it was stainless steel wool!

 

Even stainless steel wool will rust, use bronze or one of the polymer variety.

You can get varnish and polyurethane to stay stuck to teak, but it's the prep (isn't it always) that determines you're likelihood of success.

The varnish has to get a grip on the wood, which it can't if the natural oils are still there and you've not insured the varnish can penetrate. I have a "special" blend of particularly nasty chemicals that I use to remove the oils, just before varnishing teak. Then the varnish goes on thinned and hot (to lower viscosity). If you can heat the wood, then permit cooling, even better, just like trying to eliminate out gassing in epoxy work on raw wood.

With a few hot thin coats of varnish, which progressively decrease the solvent percentage, you now have "keyed" into the wood with the varnish and if the wood was clean and oil free, you'll get good durability results.

It's got to go down thin, without temptation to cheat the "build" coats with a few thick layers. The build or bulking coats are the basis for the varnish job. This is what saves your future efforts, so you can't skimp here. Once sufficient film thickness is bulked up, the handful of finish coats top off the job. These are the sacrificial coats and you'll remove these over and over, during the life of the bright work.

 

I do completely the opposite (in the de-oiling stakes but agree with the thin layers) and have had a lot of success with keeping varnish on teak in place, even in the tropics. I don't fight the oil, I go with it. I start with Deks Olje #1 and then several coats of #2 before starting with a traditional oil based 'yacht varnish'. (Whatever name International uses in the various parts of the world).

However there are lots of other factors that determine whether varnishing will be a success. I've seen people blame 'the oily wood' when in fact it's just a **** varnish job. Their work wouldn't have stayed in place on a wool blanket.

 

what works in the UV down here will work anywhere, I use the Ole, ,

 

If you use a varnish I would suggest to use a high end Yacht Marine Finish. I would advise against using teak oil because it appears that your teak will have high exposure to moisture. Oil tends to trap moisture in the wood which leads to mildew growth. If you are not interested in using a varnish, I would suggest a water based product such as Golden Care's Teak Protector. This product penetrates into the wood while maintaining the natural teak color. It will require annual maintenance but can easily be cleaned using teak cleaner. I have posted a link below that will show you the type of product I am referring to.

http://www.westminsterteak.com/CID74/Furniture-Care

I hope this helps!

 

I've lived in Alaska for the last 7 years and all the Varnishes including System Three water base didn't last through the winter.

I've decided moisture under the finish with any kind of build was a recipe for almost instant failure.

So I went to oil. Numerous people in Alaska said Tung oil turns black and I'd always heard Linseed oil turned dark to very dark. I read a lot of Peter Culler and mixed my own oil. Culler says there's nothing like kerosene for penetration so my first 2 coats were 50% kerosene. Then I'd coat w 15% Olympic Wood Preservative (to get some poison) 20 to 30% Raw Linseed Oil and the rest turpentine. If I got too much oil I'd wash w turp. On the last coat or two I'd add a bit of Japan Drier or switch to boiled linseed oil.

The name of the game is to get as much oil into the wood and minimize oil ON the wood. Usually the "finish" is a bit too oily or sticky but most of the time I can sit on my cap rail and get up w/o getting anything on me but it will feel a bit sticky. Sometimes it gets way too sticky and I wash off the excess oil w turpentine.

If I get a nice day in late fall and put on a heavy coat (sticky) it will last through the winter. One of the benefits is that if you give it a good go and want to switch to varnish you've got a VERY excellent base to put the varnish on.

 

If you intend to use linseed oil, use boiled linseed as it dries.

Tung oil is OK, but real beauty to me is full gloss varnish (polyurethane actually), I do this for a living, it has to be done 3 to 6 months repeatedly here.

Just a light sand with 240 freecut (aluminium oxide), remove all the gloss but minimum varnish and she will look stunning.....Bristol fashion.

 

Linseed oil turns blackish gray with age. Tung much less so, but also (eventually) discolors. Petroleum distillates aren't the wisest choice, especially now with all the additives used and VOC concerns.

I have the same problem down here Lubber, recoats and touch ups frequently, regardless of concoction.