With a good prep varnish on teak is good. I’ve put lots of oil on my caprails and use McKloskies spar varnnish (high oil varnish).
Inside my boat is almost all teak. Don’t think it’s ever been varnished. I oil it on occasion (my own mix of oil mostly linseed). The only downside is really old oil gets dark and has a dirty look about it. The smell of turp inside is strong. Mine oiled teak in places should be wooded down but I’ve not done it. It looks fair but I’m not that super fussy.
The plus side of oil is it’s easy to re-do and scraping is not needed. It has the nice warm soft look most want.
A passing thought;
Varnish is a mixture of oils mostly linseed, tung and turpentine that I think comes from trees and is also oil. I don’t think I’m far off saying a case could be made saying teak works best w oil finishes. I planed to just oil a piece of plywood on my foredeck but after about 12 coats of oil I decided to varnish. It’s held up good w the heavy oil base. Only one touch up in about 7 years.
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Eric
North Western Washington State USA
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