Finishing Teak??

[George Summers]

I am finishing up a triangular teak end table and need to think about finishing. Customer wants it "natural" what ever that is. I have tried Watco and Poly on some scrap pieces and both seem to darken the teak (except for end-grain). Also some of the teak is tight grained with almost no pores and some is more open pored. Teak sure seems to be a funny wood to work, cut it and fresh cuts are light but darken in sunlight, but not as dark as originally, maybe that gets darker with time. Oily, thats why I was thinking Watco, but like I said, it seems to overly darken, except on the really light areas which I'm afraid as the wood darkens with time and exposure the Watco coated wood with get very dark.

Do I use pore-filler (I have had good luck with Pore-O-Pak on walnut) or leave the pores open since a lot of the wood is tight. What finish have you been successful with on teak. What would not darken the teak (absorbs a lot). Could I use a 'spit' coat of shellac or would the shellac even stick to teak since it is so oily?

Help!!!

George

[John Bailey]

George,

I'm not an expert, but I have had to deal with teak when I worked on my sailboat. I would say to check out the marine supply stores. They deal with teak all the time and it does finish differently.

John

[Frank Hagan]

The only teak treatment I'm familiar with is on boats ... and they usually use "teak oil" (not sure what it really is, but they sell it in chandleries). On my boat, I have used a high solids varnish such as Epifanes (picture shows the results ... a little darkening is experienced with Epifanes as it is an amber colored varnish).

Left uncoated and in the sun, teak will turn grey like cedar does. They use a mixture of a mild acid (deck cleaner) to renew it. When its back to its original color, oil will cause it to darken a bit when you apply it, and will darken it a bit each time you treat it.

[Steve Wargo]

I've finished teak a few times. First wipe it down with a tack cloth and then with a good coat of mineral spirits to remove the oil from the teak. Let it dry for 10 minutes and then use an oil based poly (I use GF wipe-on poly). Brush it on and wipe it off. Let it dry then you should have no adhesion problems after the first coat is dried. Laquer will not set on it, and teak oil takes a long time to dry properly and doesn't build at all. The piece will darken only in tone, not color. It is going to darken in tone no matter what you put on it.

[Doug Shepard]

I used some waterbased poly on a project that had some teak trim on it and it worked out well. It doesn't darken the teak any more than wetting with water would darken it and I didn't have any finish adhesion problems. I can't remember for sure whether I had the Minwax Polycrylic or General Finishes WB poly (I've used both), but it worked well on the teak.

[John Shuk]

I became pretty good friends with a big outdoor furniture shop that builds alot of teak furniture and ships mailorder. They put NO finish on. They advocate letting it turn grey over time. It can handle the weather no problem. A finish can't. I think you need to let the customer know that it will grey in time OR they need to maintain whatever finish you apply. Here a link to the site to find more info.
http://www.woodclassics.com/

[Brad Townsend]

We have a roomfull of teak furniture we purchased while living in Thailand 25 years ago. All its ever had on it is oil. We oil it once or twice a year and it still looks great. If it's inside and out of the sun, I would start with the oil and see how you like it. If it's not to your liking, THEN you can try the poly or whatever.

[George Summers]

Brad -

This is indoors (in a basement so virtually no sunshine) with a set of about 25 year old Thai teak furniture, by the way. The surfaces that have not been touched much are a dark brown with sort of a blackish tone. New cut surfaces (leg tapers, etc) are sort of a light tan, but darken when left in the sun a couple of days, but not as dark as the untouched surfaces. I know that the light ones will darken over time. What kind of oil do you use? The Watco (natural) turns the dark wood almost black it is such a dark brown and only half darkens the cut pieces. The tone match is terrible at this point. I am seriously considering just using paste wax as the current multitones do seem to blend in with each other much better than with the Watco (or poly).

George

[Carl Eyman]

We bought Danish made teak living and dining furniture in Puerto Rico in 1961. Since then I've added home built pieces so that the two rooms are about 1/2 commercially made stuff and 1/2 home built. Originally the commercial stuff was a lot lighter than the home built on which I used Watco's Teak Oil. (not to be confused with regular Watco finish or any number of maintenance oils) This has more body build up. Now everything is the same color. The newest commercial pieces were replacement dining chairs bought in the 1980's. They had a clear finish on them, maybe lacquer. And they were considerably lighter than the other furniture when they were new. I scraped off that finish with a cabinet scraper as best I could and applied Watco Teak Oil. It darkened them, but not a lot. Now they match everything else.

So, my conclusion is everything is going to be the same color eventually. Of course, your customers may be more interested in what it looks like now rather than in 45 years and on that I can't help you. Perhaps the wipe on poly is the way to go.

On my sailboat I used to use stuff called "Deks-O-Lay". I don't believe I'd use it on furniture. I'm not sure why. Its gloss was uneven and It would only last a season - of course, that was in tough sun and water conditions.

Hope this helps, but not sure it does. Anyway my two cents.

[George Summers]

Customer looked at it this afternoon and wants to leave the entire table with no finish.

George