I am about to start the process of finishing the teak on my Cape Dory. The teak was left to its natural state by the previous owner and has apperantly gone many years untreated. The grain is quite raised on most of the teak and will take a substaintial amount of sanding to remove all of the raised grain. My question is how will the finish be affected if not all of the grain is sanded down?? I am balancing the tradeoff of appearance vs shape of the wood. I am affraid that I will have to remove to much material to fully remove the raised grain. I will most likely be using cetol for a finish. Can anyone give some advice on how much wood to remove, and is it critical for appearance to remove all of the raised grain??
Thanks in advance.
Brian
karaandbrianjohnson@hotmail.com
Refinishing teak
Moderator: Jim Walsh
-
Chris Schnell
Re: Refinishing teak
Brian,
I recently acquired MADNESS III, CD 30 Cutter, and while I had her on the hill I started on my teak in much the same state as you described. Once cleaned (combination of light power washing and then bleaching/scrubbing) I did sand her down SOME with 80 grit and dremel hand sander (that or equivalent a must for corners, etc.). I did not take her all the way down but left some grain raised. I too was very concerned about loosing wood. So once cleaned and lightly sanded I began the varnish process because I'd heard too many negatives about cetol. Having watched a local wooden hull boat builder here in Southport create a masterpiece, I followed suit and began using Epiphanes high gloss varnish on his recommendation. He was right! The stuff is fantastic and has as high a UV as anything on the market. The key to me with the slightly raised grain was to penetrate the grain and seal the wood so I began with 2 coats of 50% dilluted varnish so that it soaked deep into the wood to seal and protect. Then the 3rd-5th coat were about 65%, with the 6th & 7th coat at 80%. I never took it to 100% as it was just to thick for my liking. After the 3rd & 5th coat I burnished the surface with 300 grit wet/dry paper and then wiped it down with mineral spirits and let it dry. You must give it the minimum 24 hour recommended drying time before burnishing. I think she looks fantastic. Now the key is that each spring and fall for the next 3-5 years I will clean her well, wipe her down with mineral spirits, and put a 80% coat on her to maintain her. Like I said, I expect that to last 3-5 years before I have to do any major restoration. And touchup is easy when you find a chafe from a dock line or become too intimate with a piling. Smooth and clean, and apply a few coats....it matches up beautiful. So that's what I did. Good luck!
Chris Schnell
s/v MADNESS III CD30 #235
Southport, NC
swabbie@compaq.net
I recently acquired MADNESS III, CD 30 Cutter, and while I had her on the hill I started on my teak in much the same state as you described. Once cleaned (combination of light power washing and then bleaching/scrubbing) I did sand her down SOME with 80 grit and dremel hand sander (that or equivalent a must for corners, etc.). I did not take her all the way down but left some grain raised. I too was very concerned about loosing wood. So once cleaned and lightly sanded I began the varnish process because I'd heard too many negatives about cetol. Having watched a local wooden hull boat builder here in Southport create a masterpiece, I followed suit and began using Epiphanes high gloss varnish on his recommendation. He was right! The stuff is fantastic and has as high a UV as anything on the market. The key to me with the slightly raised grain was to penetrate the grain and seal the wood so I began with 2 coats of 50% dilluted varnish so that it soaked deep into the wood to seal and protect. Then the 3rd-5th coat were about 65%, with the 6th & 7th coat at 80%. I never took it to 100% as it was just to thick for my liking. After the 3rd & 5th coat I burnished the surface with 300 grit wet/dry paper and then wiped it down with mineral spirits and let it dry. You must give it the minimum 24 hour recommended drying time before burnishing. I think she looks fantastic. Now the key is that each spring and fall for the next 3-5 years I will clean her well, wipe her down with mineral spirits, and put a 80% coat on her to maintain her. Like I said, I expect that to last 3-5 years before I have to do any major restoration. And touchup is easy when you find a chafe from a dock line or become too intimate with a piling. Smooth and clean, and apply a few coats....it matches up beautiful. So that's what I did. Good luck!
Chris Schnell
s/v MADNESS III CD30 #235
Southport, NC
swabbie@compaq.net
-
Chris Scheck
Re: Refinishing teak
Having just refinished the cockpit coaming on our CD33, maybe I can offer some advice. Our teak had also deteriorated to its "natural state" but I can't blame the previous owner. We have owned Ragtime for 16 years! I worried about sanding off too much wood as well, but the grooves in the grain aren't really all that deep as a percentage of the thickness of the board... it just looks that way. Besides, once you get it right this time, you'll never let it go bad again, right? So I grabbed a palm sander and .... wow, is that teak hard! I was going thru that 1/6 of a sheet of buck-and-a-half a sheet sandpaper in no time. So I went home and got our bigger sander ... the one that takes a half a sheet! It's a contractor's model by Milwaukee, but it's probably worth the investment if you sand your boat's bottom yourself too. As I sanded the grain down, I realized it isn't just the grooves you're trying to eliminate, it's the dark lines in the grooves. That's the old teak oil that has hardened and blackened. You'll really have to sand all the way to the bottom of the grooves to get rid of them. That's where TE-KA comes in. It's phosphoric acid and it softens the black stuff so you can brush it off (nylon brush only -- brass will chew up the wood) Now you can revarnish without completely sanding the wood smooth. I used Cetol and it isn't as hard as varnish, which has it's pluses and minuses. People seem to feel passionately one way or the other, but as long as you put something on there, you're fit to raise the CD logo in my book. I don't buy this stuff about natural teak looking ... regal. Anyone who lets that happen to a CD should be keelhauled ... under a Hunter!
cscheck@aol.com
cscheck@aol.com
-
John D
Re: Refinishing teak
Brian - There's a great book on refinishing out there called "Brightwork, the art of Refinishing Wood" I'm using it now to redo the teak on my Intrepid 9M. Depending on how much elbow grease you want to put into it, one of the reccomendations she has is to use teak oil and sand the oil until it mixes with the sawdust and fills the grain. Then wipe down and varnish. The results are truly great. I would reccomend the book to anyone doing any refinishing work. Best of luck.Brian Johnson wrote: I am about to start the process of finishing the teak on my Cape Dory. The teak was left to its natural state by the previous owner and has apperantly gone many years untreated. The grain is quite raised on most of the teak and will take a substaintial amount of sanding to remove all of the raised grain. My question is how will the finish be affected if not all of the grain is sanded down?? I am balancing the tradeoff of appearance vs shape of the wood. I am affraid that I will have to remove to much material to fully remove the raised grain. I will most likely be using cetol for a finish. Can anyone give some advice on how much wood to remove, and is it critical for appearance to remove all of the raised grain??
Thanks in advance.
Brian
John
S/V Mariah
john_dupras@hotmail.com