Good morning, I received a call from a friend in AZ yesterday asking me how to refinish some teak chairs which have been in his family for many years. He says they have been stripped and are ready for a new finish. I am in Illinois and haven’t seen these chairs and am unaware of their current condition.
I asked him if there seemed to be any residual natural oil left in the wood. He said no.
Any ideas as to how to recondition the wood and apply a new finish will be appreciated
Thanks.
Replies
Teak Oil??.. What I would use... But I do stupid stuff sometimes...
Hope you get a better answer than mine..
this question is wide open.
will the chairs be inside or outside?
Teak is naturally rot resistant and requires no finish. It will weather to a nice textured grey. Applying finish leads to a neverending cycle of refinishing.
Red,
There are 2 ways to go with teak.
The first is to sand or plane the wood to the final appearance desired and do nothing more. Teak has its own natural oils which make it naturally able to resist rot. Newly prepared teak (planed or sanded down to fresh wood) appears quite uninteresting, compared to the appearance most associate with the wood (warm brown with reds and pleasing figure). It will be an olive green color and drab. Exposed to air so that it oxidizes, it will (very) slowly become reddish-brown (the more "familiar" color of teak) then age to a grey patina if left outdoors. Some like this look. Personally, I think it just looks like "old dirty wood."
The second choice is to apply oil and bring the teak to its beautiful potential. A combination of "bolied" linseed and oxygen (air) over time (3-4 months) will result in the beautiful warm color and figure that is in the wood. I don't like linseed as a final finish, although many do. It is not vprotective and eventually becomes "gummy" with skin oils (arms of chairs, etc).
For indoor use, the oiled surface can be further protected with an oil/varnish which will form a harder surface film. Better yet is to apply shellac, or even better, lacquer. The build does not have to be thick and the final film should be rubbed down with 4-0 steel wool or somewhat finer wet-or-dry (600-1000) abrasive using a lubricant such as mineral spirits or water containing a few drops of liquid dishwashing detergent. This results in a very "close-to-the-wood" look, much like a freshly-oiled surface, but with more gloss and infinitly more durable. Such is the finish on fine teak furniture.
Outdoors, the wood will need a more durable finish than shellac or lacquer. A spar varnish with the best UV protectant is the choice (the most expensive marine spar varnish is the most cost effective varnish to use). As mentioned by another, once you finish teak this way, you must maintain the finish. How often you need to "repair" the spar varnish depends on its exposure to the elements. If you let it deteriorate down to bare wood, you have a lot of work to do again.
Rich
Rich, thanks for the info. This gives me some idea of how much work is involved depending on the current condition of the chairs. When I see them, I'll decide the best way to go. I'll post the results when I have them. Thanks again.
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