On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 16:55:34 +0000, Rich Hampel wrote:

Raw teak soon degrades in full sun and turns grey and erodes from the
UV destruction of the exposed surface cells.

There are sealers that will retard the UV destruction; but, why spend a
fortune for teak only to have it erode away.

Yes, but it actually takes a pretty long time for bare teak to erode away.
So there's nothing wrong with raw, scrubbed natural teak if you like the
way it looks and feels.

This breakdown from UV is actually what causes varnish to de-bond and
peel. Better varnishes have better UV protection. Transparent UV
protectants are expensive. Cetol's answer is to use iron oxide, which is
very effective. This is what gives Cetol its orange color.

Matt O.