[Closed] Refurbing a teak table

The most ultra fine wire wool with meths to clean, have one for yourself.
Dry off with a lint free cloth.
Teak oil to finish.

I'm well into that stuff, not all is solid teak or teak at all.

As above finest steel wool(0000) and meths.
I did all my doors at home using this technique. I found its best to use steel wool rather than a cloth as you kind of spread the finish about, lifts some of it but rearranges it to give a more uniform finish.
If you use a cloth, the fabric absorbs all the original finish and you end up patchy, which doesnt look nice at all.

0000 grade steel wool is what is used in French polishing, so wont damage anything, but needs to be 0000 grade, not 000 or so.

Does the same advice apply to 'mystery wood'?

Many thanks folks.

I'll be giving the fine wire wool and meths a go (rude not to have one myself)

I've given it a god wipe down with hour soapy water, there was decades of grime on it. Its come up no bad but there are some area's requiring a birthday.

I believe it might be a Nathan item. Slightly less ubiquitous and a bit more demure than the GPlan astro's which are going for silly money now on flea bay and bumtree.

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So the meths and wire wool has exposed some wear..

The rest remains on good nick and will be fine with an oil.

I just want to treat the top surface and edge. Do I just take it right back to bare and teak oil it?

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The original finish on the mid century teak stuff was often, possibly always, a catalysed or conversion varnish. Oil is not nearly as water/wear proof. It'll restore some if the colour but it won't be as thick or hard.

Yeah you're right it's definitely a varnish finish.

In that case think I might sand the top and edges then satin varnish...

I would osmo oil it. That's plenty hard especially of its on something like teak. And it won't peal... Like what you see now. And you just add more when it looks a bit tatty.

Also i'd probably scrape that or possibly use stripper and scraper. Sanding is a miserable and lengthy task. Also if its veneered (i can't really workout whats going on at the edges) you might blast through it with a sander.

@joshvegas

Many thanks, will look at osmo.

I like the idea of scraping rather than sanding but the strippers available now are so insipid.

I had a teak table of similar vintage where the varnish was peeling. Sanded it down and gave it a few coats of osmo top oil, as that's what I had. Came out pretty well.

Edit: The table was a veneer but apart from one edge that you can't see I just went careful with the sander and it was fine.

Merak I have that exact table. Well, nearly exact. The stretcher rails on mine are just that, bent rails. Yours has a solid surface.

Mines in my shed. I'd say it's varnished like mine. Mine has similar wear marks. I'd just rub it back gently and re-varnish.

@kayak23

Ha! it's a tough call to be honest the refinishing of the top.

I've ordered some Starchem. I'll go at it with that gingerly with a scraper and see if I can get the remaining varnish off without taking away too much wood.

Like I say I can dress the rest but the top and edges need a redo.

Will try oil then if it's not enough I could over it with an oil based varnish, although finding an oil based varnish these days may be difficult..

If you have the patience, Danish/teak oil followed by a few layers of pure beewax (non-silicone) polish looks absolutely stunning. The earlier, better quality mid century stuff had that. A mate redid a varnished teak wall unit that way and it really does look good. You have to re-polish, so not care free.

Um - I have a teak coffee table with, we, toothmarks on it (young dog in the 00's) and now have the time to try and make it a bit nicer. Handed down from someone who's not around any more (and very solid & functional anyway).
Any tips?

If it is a 2pack acid catalyst finish, this can be removed using acetone.

Given acetone evaporates very quickly, ive in the past used a cloth to cover the finish, poured on liberal quantities of acetone and covered that with a plastic bag. This keeps it from evaporating and so will penetrate deeper into it.

So this came right back round. It pleases me greatly that it'll be used for the next however many years rather than buying new.

The Osmo oil is great stuff, nice matt finish. Just what I wanted.

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What an improvement. Maybe i missed it how did the remove the old finish in thenend?

Starchem (real paint stripper) and gingerly scraping. The original varnish was pretty thin tbh.

Light sand then two coats of Osmo oil from the helpful tipster above.

That looks Teakily amazing. Nice one 👍
I must do mine at some point.
Loving the matching sideboard too 😊

Nicely done!