Teak restoration
 

The teak trim on our boat was heavily varnished. Can it be stripped
down and returned to oil finish or is the grain now hopelessly filled
with varnish?

Any other suggestions? I hate varnishing.

--

Roger Long

The varnish will come off easily with a heat gun and a good scraper.

Raw teak does just fine. Use "sudsy ammonia" and give it a gentle
scrub. Finish with salt water rinse.

Varnish ain't that hard to keep up. Check out "Epithane's Wood Finish".
Follow the directions on the label. You need about 9 coats, but since
you don't sand between coats and a good foam roller puts it on smoothly,
it goes pretty fast.



Roger Long wrote:
The teak trim on our boat was heavily varnished. Can it be stripped
down and returned to oil finish or is the grain now hopelessly filled
with varnish?

Any other suggestions? I hate varnishing.

9 Coats!

Heat gun and scraper sound good to me.

It actually isn't the varnishing. Since this is trim, it's masking
all the complex edges that drives me nuts. I can't leave the masking
tape on in the sun so it means masking over and over around all those
handrail holes.

I'd rather oil it every couple of weeks.

OTOH, it's going to be hard not to harm the fiberglass with a heat
gun. A moment's inattention...

--

Roger Long



"Jim" wrote in message
.net...
The varnish will come off easily with a heat gun and a good scraper.

Raw teak does just fine. Use "sudsy ammonia" and give it a gentle
scrub. Finish with salt water rinse.

Varnish ain't that hard to keep up. Check out "Epithane's Wood
Finish". Follow the directions on the label. You need about 9
coats, but since you don't sand between coats and a good foam roller
puts it on smoothly, it goes pretty fast.



Roger Long wrote:
The teak trim on our boat was heavily varnished. Can it be
stripped down and returned to oil finish or is the grain now
hopelessly filled with varnish?

Any other suggestions? I hate varnishing.

I've had good results with soyStrip:
http://www.franmar.com/

mickey

I've had good results with soyStrip:
http://www.franmar.com/

mickey

Roger Long wrote:
9 Coats!

Heat gun and scraper sound good to me.

It actually isn't the varnishing. Since this is trim, it's masking
all the complex edges that drives me nuts. I can't leave the masking
tape on in the sun so it means masking over and over around all those
handrail holes.

I'd rather oil it every couple of weeks.

OTOH, it's going to be hard not to harm the fiberglass with a heat
gun. A moment's inattention...


It's not that bad if you put down a couple of layers of tape first. ;-)

Seriously, I just did it on our boat where a PO had messed up the
varnish somehow. I taped off the area like I was going to sand and then
used the heat gun. The gun wrecks the tape, but it doesn't seem to hurt
the gelcoat. (I'll tell you what it does hurt - skin! Ouch!) I kept the
gun moving and never let anything get too hot. Use a good sharp pull
scraper. The process makes a terrible mess with little cornflakes of
varnish everywhere. You'll still have to sand some to get what you missed.

Of course you know that oil has no UV, mildew, or impact protection. The
paint idea is a good one.

Best of luck!

Cindy

--
The email address above is a spam trap. Don't expect a response.
Reach me using firstname at lastname dot net

Red Cloud© wrote:

Leave the varnish, and paint over it with a UV resistant solid color
paint.

NO NO NO NO NO!
ignore this philistine completely
he is an anencephalic who sadly will never have...a clue

Teak is easily restored from its adulterated i.e., varnished state.
Varnish, and worse "paint" are cheap "solutions" applied by the lazy to
a simple problem that can be solved with the application of the
universal solvent...elbow grease. On sunny, dry days, sand as per
directions and instructions you can find anywhere online to remove the
offending stuff. Rinse with copious amounts of water. Alternatively,
after sanding, _attentive_ and _prudent_ blasting with a pressure washer
opens up the grain and removes sanding dust. Let dry in the sun for a
day. Oil away when dry. Watch how thirsty the starved wood is and
replenish as necessary. Wipe excess with a clean rag.

The issue actually is not with the wood. It is the oil that mildews and
turns black in the grain of the wood. Sadly there's nothing to be done
about it. On the Great Lakes, I'll oil in April/May and need to redo
the copious amounts of bright work on my vintage '66 sloop by August.
Once sanded to a corrected finish, the wood can be cleaned mid-season by
wetting the wood, applying Comet, and scrubbing with a brass suede
brush. Copious rinsing, followed by drying, followed by oiling
completes the task. There are no shortage of dry, high-wind days when
you can engage in the highly satisfying activity of maintaining the
bright work.

Teak is best replaced or painted. Who wants to spend time varnishing
when he could be sailing?

Oil holds on to dirt.

The heat gun is the best for stripping varnish. What I haven't tried I
have watched others do. Strippers are always bad for something "down
stream." When you add the clean up, the heat gun is easier.

OTOH, it's going to be hard not to harm the fiberglass with a heat
gun. A moment's inattention...

Pay attention. After a while, you will get the feel for it, and it will
go easily. Forget any tape. A small piece of thin aluminum works well
as a heat shield. Burn your hands a couple of times, you will learn how
to not burn your hands. You will aquire something called SKILL.

Paint is a bad idea. You don't want to varnish it, don't. Keep it
clean! Rinse with salt water. You don't varnish (or oil) decks, do you?

When someone says some product is easier than varnish, don't listen to
them, watch them, look at their boat. The worst looking boat on my dock
is the one that's owned by the guy who thinks Cetol is easier.

I bought a fiberglass boat that someone with good intentions had
painted. Spent many hours at the end of a heat gun and scraper removing
the paint.

Looks completely acceptable without that damn paint.

Fiberglass is amazing stuff.

Now to sit on the deck and look at the Cetol guy's neglected wood.







Cindy Ballreich wrote:
Roger Long wrote:

9 Coats!

Heat gun and scraper sound good to me.

It actually isn't the varnishing. Since this is trim, it's masking
all the complex edges that drives me nuts. I can't leave the masking
tape on in the sun so it means masking over and over around all those
handrail holes.

I'd rather oil it every couple of weeks.

OTOH, it's going to be hard not to harm the fiberglass with a heat
gun. A moment's inattention...


It's not that bad if you put down a couple of layers of tape first. ;-)

Seriously, I just did it on our boat where a PO had messed up the
varnish somehow. I taped off the area like I was going to sand and then
used the heat gun. The gun wrecks the tape, but it doesn't seem to hurt
the gelcoat. (I'll tell you what it does hurt - skin! Ouch!) I kept the
gun moving and never let anything get too hot. Use a good sharp pull
scraper. The process makes a terrible mess with little cornflakes of
varnish everywhere. You'll still have to sand some to get what you missed.

Of course you know that oil has no UV, mildew, or impact protection. The
paint idea is a good one.

Best of luck!

Cindy

I wear leather gloves when stripping with a heat gun, works most of the
time, no scars...