Teak Refinishing

[Donnarondack (Guest)]

I repaired and refinished a cherry table top for a friend of my sons. This friends mother really liked the finished product and has expressed an interest in having me refinish a teak table for her. Well, I haven't talked with her or seen the table, but I need to research teak wood and some refinishing options/techniques to prepare for estimating this job. Can someone suggest some book sources to research? I have gotten some wonderful advise from many of you on various subjects in the past and I know I won't be disappointed.

Thanks for your help,
Donna

[pampine]

Jeff Jewitt is very knowledgeable, has written books on the topic, his site is homesteadfinishing.com, a page on choosing a finish is: http://www.homesteadfinishing.com/ChoosingFinish.htm. Probably the most obvious finish to use is teak oil; but that depends on the use of the table. You could also ask him about how to remove any existing finish if that's an issue.

Generally the oils in teak will dictate how well/long a finish will last, or even cure to start with. For example, many will apply acetone to the oily woods prior to gluing, maybe naptha or paint thinner before applying a finish, thus leaving an oil free surface for the glue or new finish. You should expect the naturally present oils to eventually migrate out toward the surface.

Another great resource on finishing is Bob Flexner's book "Understanding Wood Finishing".

Pam

[Stephen Shepherd (Guest)]

Donna,
What you may run into when working with teak is that some 'teak' furniture is made of walnut, bleached and stained to look like teak. This is a common practice with modern Scandanavian Teak furniture.

This might be of some help:
http://www.ilovewood.com/alburnam16.htm#Teak

Stephen

[Donnarondack]

Steve,
Thanks for the web site reference. It has a lot of information there. I still have not seen the table I have been asked to refinish. They haven't had time to show it to me yet. I also will read up on the wood characteristics so I will be sure what kind of wood it really is.
Thanks again.
Donna