Teak - stripping down and refinishing

[woodcanuck]

I have a somewhat 'old' teak dining room table. The table is in pretty decent shape, but the surface of the tabletop is in need of some restoration.

The main problems I've got are:

- some dark water marks

- some light areas (I suspect the teak oil finish got 'lifted' out of the wood maybe?)

- some general grunge (glitter glue from kids, etc)

The surface itself is still pretty smooth, so there's no need to repair the wood, it's mainly the stains and the finish.

Does anyone have any experience with restoring teak? I'd love to get some tips and avoid problems if anyone has experience with this.

My initial thoughts are to hit it with a scraper plane very lightly to take down the top layer of gunk and see what I end up with. If it looks good after that I'll refinish it with teak oil. I don't know if the water marks (light/dark stains) permeate the surface or not, if they do, any suggestions for dealing with them?

I'm going with teak oil as I know that's what it had on it already, but for the table top, I could be convinced to do something else if anyone has a 'great finish' for teak.

Thanks everyone...

[AceHoleInOne]

Question, usually the "Teak" type tables I have seen, the tops have a thin veneer coated with an amber toned lacquer or shellac finish. A picture would be cool showing the damage? Best results, in my opinion, are achieved from a chemical stripper. Dents can be steamed out with a hot steam iron. Followed by a good sanding of the table through the grits with an RO Sander.

But hey, if your into old hand tools, that's ok, go for it. Just make sure your not working a thin veneer top.

As I mentioned above, most teak I seen are amber toned something, usually shellac. So perhaps a toned shellac and a water-based top-coat for toughness. Do you have spray capabilities?

Teak oil is ok, however, doesn't offer much protection.

-Ace-

[woodcanuck]

Question, usually the "Teak" type tables I have seen, the tops have a thin veneer coated with an amber toned lacquer or shellac finish. A picture would be cool showing the damage? Best results, in my opinion, are achieved from a chemical stripper. Dents can be steamed out with a hot steam iron. Followed by a good sanding of the table through the grits with an RO Sander.

But hey, if your into old hand tools, that's ok, go for it. Just make sure your not working a thin veneer top.

As I mentioned above, most teak I seen are amber toned something, usually shellac. So perhaps a toned shellac and a water-based top-coat for toughness. Do you have spray capabilities?

Teak oil is ok, however, doesn't offer much protection.

-Ace-

Ace - thanks, I'll try and throw a picture in here tonight if I can. It's definitely solid teak and I know that my parent's (whom I inherited this from) applied teak oil to it every year or two. They didn't give the chairs the same TLC and they are now fully disassembled piles of brittle dry teak that I'm trying to find a project for.

Shellac may be an option, it will still get used as a dining table, so I do have to consider heat and moisture coming into contact with the finish....of course Marc's interview with Vijay has me thinking those concerns more of an old wive's tale than a valid issue. We'll see.

[Pete Bennett]

If it's a solid top you shouldn't have too much of a problem. A good chemical stripper will do for a start. However back in the 70s when the whole world seemed made from Teak or something resembling it, one of the first jobs to do with solid timber was to de-grease it using Carbon tetrachloride. If you didn't it certainly would not glue and often would 'throw off' fine finishes like French Polish (shellac). The lab I used to buy mine from told me in large capitals that it was a powerful narcotic but even when I only needed a few ounzes they would give me a whole carbouy of the stuff. You may need to do something like this before trying to use shellac or a similar fine finish. Water stains can go deep, if they do the best approach is a light bleaching (Oxalic Acid) then a good sanding. You should then be able to use a thin stain and gently colour match the section in and blend it well before going on to what ever finish you decide. Like ACE says though Teak oil does not give much protection. On the other hand, if you can get it, Danish oil applied properly will give a very tough virtually heat resistant finish and will look identical to ordinary Teak oil.

Hope this helps

Pete

[TBaiga]

Carbon Tet? Not something I'd recommend for the casual user. It's acute safety issues (liver and kidney damage) coupled to it's high cost (>$250/liter) and it's even greater disposal cost and hazmat licensing makes this reagent very unattractive in my humble opinion. Production of carbon tet is being phased out, and as a scientific reagent it is being replaced by toluene/xylene derivatives which you would know as mineral spirits. Another alternative is hexane or hexanes (cheaper mixture of isomers), and of course lacquer thinner, a combination of ethanol, ethyl acetate and toluene. For home/shop use, I'd avoid dealing with poly chlorinated solvents....especially here in the US.

Hope this helps.

[Don Z.]

Why not try a teak cleaner from the boating world?