PDA

View Full Version : Finishing teak



Dave Cav
08-16-2008, 11:45 PM
I'm finishing two display cases I'm building for my wife. The back and bottom are teak plywood and the sides and doors are solid lumber. The tops are 6/4 slabs of afromosia, but that's another story.

This isn't the first teak furniture I've built; I built an entertainment center about 10 years ago out of mostly teak plywood with a lot of solid edging. I'm pretty sure I finished it with regular Watco Danish oil. It turned out pretty good, but the display cases are going better.

With the display cases I'm using Watco Teak Oil, which is, according to the can, apparently aimed at the boating set. According to the directions on the can you apply a wet coat, let it set for a half hour, apply another wet coat, allow it to set for 15 minutes, then wipe dry. According to the various posts I read in the archives, this would make this product an "oil/varnish" mixture. I have applied two coats via this process so far over the previous two days. The grain come up nicely and the wood has darkened considerably, which I expected. However, because each coat is wiped off, the build has been rather slow. It also went through a LOT of rags. This afternoon I rubbed all the surfaces down with 00 steel wool, and applied another light coat as a wiping varnish, that is, I wiped it on with a rag saturated (but not dripping) with the finish, and left it to dry. Tomorrow I plan to rub it out again and repeat a couple more times. This seems to be acclerating the build, looks like it will result in a very nice finish.

Does anyone see any problems using an oil/varnish mixture in a "wiping" mode?

Thanks
Dave C

Peter Luch
08-17-2008, 1:21 AM
I have used a product called Penofin with great results. They make it for indoors, outdoors and marine.
You do the same process and the same time frame.
I did not want a shiney finish so only two coats.

With penofin if you want a shiney coat let it sit longer the second application till it gets a little tacky and then buff it in or sand it in till it sets.

Nice project btw. :D

How much did you pay for the teak?
My sources say its going up next load.

Aloha, Pete

Dave Cav
08-17-2008, 1:52 AM
Thanks for your comments. The teak was about $22 a board foot, and I got it from East Teak, a big importer/wholesale outfit that happens to be close by. East Teak let me sort through their stock, and had everything from 4/4 to probably 10/4, in all kinds of widths and lengths. I ended up with a number of very nice rough sawn 4/4 boards, (and a much lighter checkbook) and milled them down to around 3/4 for the frames. I also wore out a set of planer knives planing the wood down. The local lumberyard wanted $26 for teak, and that was for a very limited selection of 5/4.

The tops (which don't show in the picture) were originally going to be 3/4 ply with 3/8" solid edging. I actually made them, then cut through the face veneer in a couple of places trimming and sanding the edging. The veneer was probably only .3 mm. The cabinets are over six feet tall and the defects wouldn't be visible, but I wasn't happy with it, so I went back to East Teak and got a big 6/4 slab of afromisia that was 16" wide and six feet long; it was "only" $6.50/bf, which is why I picked it over teak; all that will show is the front edge and it's a pretty good match from that respect. I planed it down to 1 1/8" and cut two tops out of the slab, and put a 1/2", 45* chamfer around the side and front bottom edges, and it looks pretty good. Afromosia has completely different working characteristics than teak, and I hope I never work with it again. It's much harder than teak, but doesn't have the high silica content of teak. It chips very easily, and has a very wild grain structure with wicked grain reversals all through it. I found it was about impossible to plane by hand due to the grain reversals. I screwed a 3/4" solid cleat to the top/inside of each cabinet side and will run the screws up through the cleats to the top slab. The back screws will be solid, and I milled a 1" slot in the front ends of the cleat to (hopefully) allow for any cross grain expansion of the tops, since they are one big solid piece.

Jim Becker
08-17-2008, 10:02 AM
Danish Oil finishes like the Teak Oil you're using (as well as Watco, etc.) are not designed to "build". They are meant to be infused into the wood, leaving a silky smooth finish without a film. If you want that, do a single application of the oil to bring out the character of the wood and switch to a wiping varnish, such as Waterlox or the General Finishes product. You'll get a film build at about 3-4 applications being the equivalent of one brushed varnish coat.

Howard Acheson
08-18-2008, 2:51 PM
>> applied another light coat as a wiping varnish, that is, I wiped it on with a rag saturated (but not dripping) with the finish, and left it to dry.

Let me emphasize what Jim said. Oil/varnish mixtures are not intended to be "built" as a film finish. They contain lots of oil and the oil does not dry into a real film. With multiple coats you will end up with a real gummy mess. It just doesn't dry hard. It's even worse with teak because teak already has a very high oil content.

Oil/varnish mixtures are intended to give a natural look and feel to the wood leaving a sort of soft, warm glow. They are an excellent choice for teak and were/are the traditional finish used on teak scandinavian furniture. For something like you are making it should be more than durable enough.

The only thing that differentiates Watco Teak Oil from their Danish Oil is that it contains a dollop of UV protector and some tung oil. For all practical purposes, the two products are identical.

You sound like you are making a nice project. If you don't like the way the Watco is producing a finish, it best to remove as much of it as you can now and start over. Don't apply more "teak oil". An option is to wipe the surface down with mineral spirits applied with a green scotchbrite pad. Wipe off the gunk completely dry using lots of paper towels. Let it dry overnight. See how it looks. It will probably need one more application of your teak oil but apply it exactly as the label on the can describes. After letting it set, wipe it dry and then let it dry for a couple of days.

Dave Cav
08-18-2008, 10:49 PM
Thanks guys; that's pretty much what I discovererd. It is sorta drying, but I will rub it out with MS and 0000 and take it from there. The wood looks very good, but I want to get just a hint of satin gloss; I may go with some real wiping varnish and 0000.