On Sun, 03 Dec 2006 13:53:15 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

I'm getting ready to do a major varnish project on my Grand Banks 49
and was thinking that it might be nice to have the teak more or less
the same color (some is lighter, some darker, etc.). The wood will be
stripped and sanded before I start with the varnish.

Is the color difference from sun exposure or from different batches of
wood being used during construction? If it's from sun it will all be
much closer to the same when you sand down far enough. I used Daly's
A/B bleach to even out some blotches and rust spots, then lightly
sanded out the bleach stains.

Does anyone have any thoughts, experience, whatever with staining
teak? If so, what type and color of stain would you recommend?


After some tests I used tung oil instead of stain. I pressure washed,
scrubbed, stripped (Citri-strip with plastic scrapper; it has to be
hot out) sanded and used tung oil, then varnished. Don't pressure wash
unless you have to- I had mold, moss, slime, rot to blow off first. My
wood was badly neglected and some of it had to be bleached or
replaced. Some parts blew off when pressure washed. Splices on trim
and mouldings were done at opposed 45 degrees instead of butt spliced.
It looks pretty good now and light years better than it did.

Is there any downside other than some loss of wood grain visibility?

I tried staining on some scrap and it just looked gross. It killed all
the iridescence and depth that makes a varnished piece of teak look
hypnotic, sensual and classy. The stained effect was kind of
artificial and cheap looking but that's in the eye of the beholder I
guess. Cetal makes me physically ill to look at.
I have stained, then varnished marine plywood and been blown away by
how good it looks. If you radius the edges of 3 or 5 ply stuff it
makes a dark, light, dark, light etc effect which makes it look like
you know what you're doing. It was a cheap trick in 60's interior
construction and draws the eye away from amateur joinery work to an
extent.

I'm planning to use epifanes gloss varnish which builds up to a dark
amber color with enough coats.

I used Man-o-War at $32 per gallon. Any varnish will darken as the
coats build up. I found it lasted longer in the can than the boutique
stuff, was easier to apply and gave more consistent results. Unless
you're some kind of artist I would stick to basics.