Protective finish for a teak dining table

[Bill Kaminsky]

Hello. I have just purchased a new teak dining table. I am concerned about stains from almost anything that one uses on a dining table, (e.g. water, cooking oil, coffee, wine, beer, various foods). The table appears to be finished with some oil finish, the description says "natural" finish. Teak is supposed to be very water repellent but I don't know about other liquids etc. My question is can I and should I put a protective layer on top? Family Handyman says use Watco Danish Oil but I don't think that will protect it as well as a polyurathane or varnish. I was inclined to use water based polyurathane but some articles I read said oil based is OK but not water based. Any suggestions or cautions?

[Frank Pratt]

Hello. I have just purchased a new teak dining table. I am concerned about stains from almost anything that one uses on a dining table, (e.g. water, cooking oil, coffee, wine, beer, various foods). The table appears to be finished with some oil finish, the description says "natural" finish. Teak is supposed to be very water repellent but I don't know about other liquids etc. My question is can I and should I put a protective layer on top? Family Handyman says use Watco Danish Oil but I don't think that will protect it as well as a polyurathane or varnish. I was inclined to use water based polyurathane but some articles I read said oil based is OK but not water based. Any suggestions or cautions?

No, Danish Oil will not provide much protection. My go to finish where good protection is needed is wipe on poly. It's very easy to get a uniform finish. Anything shiny won't look natural, so a satin finish is better for that. My night table was finished with 3 or 4 coats & it's always got a glass of water on it that often has a bit of a puddle under it from condensation. After about 20 years there is no sign of damage or staining.

[John TenEyck]

Teak is oily by nature and who knows what finish it has on it. Applying another finish on top might not be so straight forward. I would think that a dewaxed shellac sealer followed by your choice of oil based varnish would work, but I'd test it on the bottom first to confirm it bonds well. Waterlox OSF or Arm-R-Seal would be my choice for varnish.

John

[scott vroom]

+1 on Arm-R-Seal. Personally, I wouldn't use a water based poly on a nice furniture piece...to me it has a plastic appearance, but then I'm only familiar with General Finishes Enduro Clear Poly, and their retail consumer High Performance poly.

[andy bessette]

Teak will most certainly get stained from food and drink. Best protection is WEST epoxy and Epifanes varnish.

[Dave Cav]

I'm going to give a somewhat contrary response based on our owning a teak dining room table for nearly 40 years since it was purchased new. I have refinished the top once in that time. If I didn't use Watco, I used something very similar, probably a home made wipe on oil/varnish finish. I sanded it lightly first with 220 and 440 then applied several coats of finish with rags. The table top has acquired a few dings and scratches over the years (many of which I was able to raise with steam and clean up during the previous refinish, over 15 years ago) but I consider it part of the patina. No stains to speak of. On the other hand, we also almost always use cloth placemats or a tablecloth when using the table. It's a dining room table. It's going to acquire some character over the years.

[John TenEyck]

Well that wasn't a contrary response at all Dave. It was consistent with those who recommended varnish. Whether brushed or wiped, it's still varnish.

John

[Kevin Jenness]

It's hard to recommend anything without knowing what is on there. A lot of teak furniture is finished with a matte "natural look" conversion varnish or similar that may not need improvement. If you can test in an unseen area that would help. You should be able to go over whatever is on it with a good cleaning, scuff sanding, barrier coat of dewaxed shellac and your choice of film finish.2k poly is something you might want to look into. If it has a thin oil finish to start with you could maintain it as Dave suggests.