Restoring Outdoor Teak Bench

[albus16]

Hi,

I'm relatively new to woodworking, especially with woods other than oak.

My girlfriend has a beautiful teak outdoor seat which has become grey and tired-looking. I know that certain purists like the grey patina on teak, but she would like it restoring to the original colour.

I started to sand it by hand to investigate what it would look like and the lichen and patina comes off quite easily but obviously it would be a fiddly job to get into all the slats.

The main things I wanted to clear up before I sand the whole thing and oil it are:

- Will sanding it down and re-oiling it give the best finish?

- I don't know anything about 'Teak Cleaners' - are they a quicker/better/easier option? Do they remove all the patina etc? I would like to restore the beauty of the original wood so if these only take a top layer off then I'd rather sand it down.

- What should I finish it with? I'm a big fan of Danish Oil and think this particular shade of teak would look great finished with it, but is it durable enough if re-applied every year? What is 'Teak Oil'?

Any other general advice before I embark upon this would be greatly appreciated, and apologies for the long-winded post!

Many thanks in advance,

Alex

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

Scrape and sanding it down is the best option IMO. Can you take the bench apart? if so then its the easier way to do the slats. On teak its Teak Oil for me. Its another type of oil thats very suited for outdoor applications. It don't leave a high sheen either. Either way unless you coat it with UV protector every year or stain it dark colour it will only gray after a few year again.

 

[jimi43]

This is one of two recliners purchased at a bootfair....

Left out all winter...or more as you can see....

I just brushed all the old crud off with a copper brush and then used quite a bit of teak oil...

Like new again...

Hope this gives you the confidence you need to do the job.

Cheers

Jimi

 

[TheTiddles]

Pressure washer, works brilliantly, very fast and doesn't take material off with it, oil well afterwards

Aidan

 

[neilyweely]

I got some Teak otudoor furniture cleaner, by Ronseal, from a certain online auction site, in with a load of oils and stains.
Gotta say it worked better than I hoped but that said I still used a copper brush and a pad sander. I suppose it halved the amount of work req'd though, so may be worth it......
HTH
Neil

 

[Tomyjoiner]

Definately teak oil for me, my wife volenteered to do our chairs an table last year when i was at work, lukily i came back early as she had put danish on the table(not the type you eat) an was just starting on the second chair. i did the other too in teak oil and they weathered fine over winter, ive been sanding the table an chairs down these last few nites and oiled one last nite and alas they will never look the same again, all streaky ruined by the danish so its teak oil all the way for me. Needless to say my wife wont be offering her oiling services to me for a while!

 

[albus16]

Thanks everyone for all the advice,

I've decided to go down Hudson's route and use good old-fashioned elbow grease. Although regrettably I don't have a good random orbital sander for the less fiddly bits. Just a Bosch pad sander which won't leave the nicest finish.

Hudson also makes a good point about UV protection. I read a lot of good things on here about Osmo Oils, some of which have UV protection. Are any of those worth considering?

I've never used Teak Oil before, what kind of finish does it give? What is the difference between Teak Oil specifically and other oils? I don't personally like the dark finish you often see on teak (no offence Jimi!) and does teak oil darken it?

There's also a sun-bather similar to Jimi's that wants doing so I may test out some of your ideas on that as it isn't as nice.

Thanks for all the advice again, I've actually got quite a lot done this afternoon in the - relative - dry weather.

Alex

 

[jimi43]

No offence taken at all Alex...it's a matter of taste and I like the mahogany brown colour best.

If you use teak oil it will go dark but lighten back to the grey again with UV and drying out. So you can get the grey but that will tend to split if left too long...particularly with cheaper "teak" and the substitutes.

Try on a small area like under the seat and see what you think...teak oil is relatively cheap.

Jim