HI–We have made a big mistake and are looking for some help. While we lived full time and traveled the US and Canada in a motorhome, our teak table and 12 chairs were in storage. We have bought a house in north Central Arizona and now have the funiture out of storage. Some of the chairs had begun to fall apart and even split. So I decided to oil them with Teak Oil ( I guess it is a Rustoleum product. Is this mistake #1– that it was the WRONG teak oil?)
We moved everything into the garage and followed directions EXCEPT when we realized that it was going to drop below th 50 degrees. ( Mistake #2?) I guess it stopped absorbing into the wood. When I attempted to wipe it down as directed, it just seemed to add dust or lint to the coating. The next day we moved it all back into the warmer house, but, now, 5 days later, it has still not completely absorbed into the wood. In some places it looks and feels ok, in others it seems to have a thick coating, and in others it has a rough, linty surface embedded with the towel texture.
Big mistake, huh. Does anyone have suggestions for recovering from our disaster? Your help will be gratefully appreciated–Thank you.–Stephanie
Replies
You can get out of this quite easily. Just set aside some quality time for you and your furniture. Get a good supply of lint free rags, and some fine sanding sponges. Not the blocks the grey ones that are about 1/4 -3/8" thick. Cut the sanding sponges in 1/2 or 1/4 sheet pieces and start reapplying the oil, sanding it in and wiping it off. The oil you have will work unless it is out of date - say 3 years old or has been exposed to air for any length of time.
I looked up Rustoleum Teak Oil and the results were for Watco Teak Oil. It should be fine for this experience. Time will tell if it delivers the service you expect. They tell you to brush it on and wipe it off. Well wiping off doesn't give the hand rubbed finish does it. You really have to do some rubbing - sometime more than once to get it looking nice - and not sticky or rough.
Deft make a teak oil finish as well. Sikkens make some marine varnishes for teak also.
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The most important step in all of this is to remember to thoroughly soak all of the dirty oil rags in water at the end of each session. Oily rags will spontaneously ignite if just wadded up and thrown in the trash. I soak them, then lay them out on the ground to dry for several days before throwing them in the trash.
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Hope this helps.
Edited 1/2/2008 6:04 pm ET by Don01
Edited 1/2/2008 6:09 pm ET by Don01
Thank you so much for the suggestions. I will try again with your methods, but will have to wait for slightly warmer weather so that we can at the least open windows in the house, if not carry it all to the garage. I had wiped down the table and chairs, but not with soap and water. The oil is new and not out of date, so that is a good thing. And I appreciate the reminder about the cleaning rags. We will wash them out. Although I can't solve the situation right away, I am much more hopeful that there WILL be a positive outcome. Thanks so very much for your help--Stephanie
Stephanie,
My first impression is you didn't clean the chairs first. Soap and water is a wonderful thing. Once they dry you can go ahead and treat them.
You may have tried to do too much all at once too. When you tried to wipe the oil off per directions, apparently it was already starting to set on you.
The areas that are embedded with lint just need a light sanding. I would suggest some 320 grit sandpaper for this. This will knock down the lint pretty quickly.If you find it is not coming off that well move to a more aggressive 220 paper.
You might consider following this by rubbing it with a maroon scotch pad. This will help even out the sheen on everything.
Teak oil is nothing more than a very very thin varnish.
If you want to do another coat;
Another way to apply this product is to wet sand it in with some wetdry sandpaper in a high grit such as 600. Apply some oil to the surface and "sand" the oil into the wood. Do it in sections and be sure to wipe it well as you go. Be sure and come back and wipe it again about 15 minutes later as the oil will seep out of the pores.
You'll be surprised at how good they look. You'll also get a good workout doing it.
Make sure you hang the oily rags out to dry or immerse them in water to deactivate them. Fail to do this and spontaneous combustion can occur in short order and ruin your day.
Good luck.
Peter
Thank you for this information. So much to know and so easy to make one little teeny mistake with big consequences. I have great hopes that when we are able to work on the table and chairs again, we have a good chance of resolving this. I did wipe them down, but not with soap and water, so that might have been part of the issue. The temperature was as well, I am sure. But we will have to wait for warmer weather so I don't compound it all. At least we need to be able to open windows.
This is a fascinating forum, and I can learn so much from just reading all them messages. I do love this internet thing....I really appreciate your help--Stephanie
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