teak, oil or no oil

fishlessman

just picked up some two teak planter boxes,1 teak coffee table, and 1 teak drink cart for a steal at a closet tent sale. now they are all teak and for the money i paid im thinking there might be cheaper grades than from what my rocker cost. still they look like good quality. so let them grey or oil them, what really is better. i got all of that and 4 swivel high back patio bar chairs for under 200 dollars couldnt get another item in the truck :laugh: now with the ot forum, does egg furniture go here or there :blink:

RRP

if you like the natural patina of the grey let it weather graciously. OTOH if you want to work then oil it on a regular basis. Here's something backing me up.
http://housekeeping.about.com/od/ideasbysurface/ht/teakwood.htm

fishlessman

thats a good article, my rockers about 5 years old and has a nice patina though its turning green right now from all the rain. looks like some bleach is in order.

stike

ok.

if i know you like i think i do, based upon your lawn care regimen, i'm going to suggest letting it go grey.

teak goes nice and soft, silver, when it patinas. planters shouldn't pick up any other stains, so they should go nice and uniform grey. but furniture (tables especially) can get oil stains from food and other dirt besides just going grey.

i spent the better part of two days last year cleaning and oiling my teak table and chairs, and MAN, it looks as good as new, even better, some think.

but it won't last.

it's already grey and food-i-fied again. you'd need to reapply the teak oil (which isn't oil from teak) in order to delay the greying, and it's just too much foolishness if you prefer fishing. grey is how those in the know "prefer" it, by the way, so anyone accuses you of shirking duty, tell them it was good enough for Lutyens, it's good enough for you.

because my wife likes the fresh "new" look, i will try sealing it this time. i found a true sealer (not a varnish). one that will retard the greying and protect the surface from stains. need to clean it again and apply, and then do it yearly. guaranteed to seal without chipping (not a varnish) or discoloring. damned if i can't find it right now (the link). if i tuen it up, i'll send it to you. i need to do the furniture if it ever stops raining

fishlessman

maybe just oil the table top then, with the boat and salt water it never lasted long so i gave that up long ago

Little Steven

fishlessman,

When I was a kid and my Dad had the boat business, I spent a lot of time sanding and oiling teak. It sands really easily and the patina(?) doesn't go very deep. You should be able to refinish it with little effort if you don't like the natural.

Steve

fishlessman

either way, oil or let it grey is fine with me, didnt know if the oil is really needed or even really recommended. i can tell you that the boat i have was origionally spar varnished, and i would never never never do that. been scraping that stuff off for years when it gets slow out there :laugh:

Little Steven

I hear you, I had to remove a half inch of Cetol from a powerboat deck. It took me a two weeks of scraping and a week of sanding.

Steve