Yet another varnish question...

JMS · Post by **JMS** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 12:23 pm

Need recommendations on prepping interior teak for varnish. The wood, as far as I can tell, has always been oiled. At this stage of the game, a lot of the solid trim pieces are so dark the grain has virtually disappered.

Almost everything is removable. I would like to get to a nice light color and then varnish with satin varnish. What's the best way to get wood ready?

Thanks.

Joe

Hirilondë · Post by **Hirilondë** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 6:43 pm

You can try some of the commercial teak cleaners and/or a lot of sanding. You will want to do this regardless of what color you are looking for as it is just good prep. I'm not sure what degree of light color you are looking for, but you may never achieve it. At best you will end up with the original color of your teak, what ever that is. Because the wood has been oiled you really need to be sure you remove all of it. Otherwise you will end up with "fish-eye". Other cleaners that work on teak are ammonia and lemon juice. Either, as well as commercial teak cleaners will help remove the old oils and other contaminates in the wood.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 9:33 am

All the teak in boat has been oiled for the last 26 years, and I finally took it out this winter with plans to varnish it. I sprayed all the wood down with a TSP solution (and I also tried TSP substitute, which worked well too) and was shocked at how easily the oil was removed. It takes a lot of rinsing afterwards (obviously the wood was removed from the boat first), but the oil just ran off the wood. When the wood dried, it looked like straight from the lumber yard teak again. Better yet, a wipe down with acetone didn't give me that nasty brown/orange oil residue!

Good Luck!