Teak oil

Seem like quite a few swim step projects going on. I’m re-doing ours, the base frame is teak and I’m making the deck slats from Jatoba. I’m picked up some of this teak oil today. What say you?

I say teak oil used outdoors does not last very long. I know it's a swim step, but I might just let it go grey. Better than the black that damp teak oil feeds the black moldy critters.

No knowledge of "Amazon`s Golden Teak Oil" (Amazon, maybe unrelated, just set up shop here), but application of Deks Olje#1 requires initial saturation and then maintenance. My swimstep is just oiled (no added gloss finish#2) and has never gone black. Looks way better than left grey, and won`t develop the ridging of being left unprotected.

It’s not “Amazon”...

MDR Products

I'm new to this teak maintenance and have/like to redo our swim deck. I was thinking two coats of Cetrol with antiskid powder scattered on wet second coat and then a thrid coat after that dried. I'd welcome comments yea or nay.

Hi,

On all of my boats, the cockpit, the side decks and the swim platform were teak. I never oil them, just wash a soft brush crossing the tree line with salty water (keep the green growth out of) the cockpit rinse with the fresh water.

Teak silver is its natural color and I feel okay. Keep teak as it never slips wet and dries quickly. There is an endless workplace to keep teak gold in brown and use a strong acid again before oiling, it will consume the surface unevenly and quickly before premature wear.

NBs


Old boat swiming p..


NT bow deck

I also ascribe to the "nothing" finish on exterior teak decks and platforms, just like North Baltic. Much better non-skid properties and no maintenance beyond clean salt water and soft brush as noted.

I think that a careful read of the label on the package will be revealing. Unlike, say, Olive oil, Tung oil, Canola oil, Turpentine derived from Pitch Pine, etc., there is no such thing as Teak oil. Like Thompson's Water Seal, and similar common snake oils, tung oil is not very valuable and eventually evaporates.

Wood needs protection .. even teak.

I mix my own “teak oil”.
One can get a bit too much oil and it gets sticky and shiny in places. The only way to control the oil is to make your own teak oil. I do.
I use mostly turpentine or kerosene as a vehicle. I use kerosene for the first application or two and turp thereafter. Kerosene is best for penetration. Got that from R. D. Culler who has been one of the leading experts on wood boats and finishing wood. He says kerosene “drives the oil into the wood”.
For the oil one can use 30w engine lube oil, new or used. I did that when I was a truck driver mostly w wood decked flatbeds. Just 100% oil. It sorta dried up fairly soon and worked fairly well. I thought it was going to rot the wood but if it did it did it very slowly. Over ten years or so there was no roting of wood.

On the boat I used linseed oil. Tung oil is known to be better only a very slight margin IMO. Most all oil based paint is based on linseed oil. Use “raw” oil for best penetration. Use “boiled” for a less oily/dry surface. Use Japan drier and boiled oil w the oil in smaller quantities .. as in lower percentages of the total mix. Also I usually added a quite small amount of oil based varnish. Very easy to get too much varnish and cause build on top of the wood but varnish helps water bead up on the finish and less frequent coating will be required.

Build is not wanted or desired if it is to be an oil finish. But the above is an excellent base for varnish top coats. Better than epoxy IMO as the oil penetrates much deeper in the wood. If you get build in places it will first appear shiny. Sand off the build only where it’s shiny. Apply more oil and wipe off the excess.

There are probably other additives like stain. But I’ve not tried that. May be a broblem getting it on even and will probably be very obvious. May be easy and would like to know if it is. A botched up stain job w uneven color may be very hard to “fix”.
Some sort of wood preservative on wood that’s not teak may help longevity but again haven’t tried it.

One of the greatest advantages of mixing your own is that you can vary the quanties or proportions of oil, vehicle, varnish and additives. Or the kind of oil, vehicle or other element of the mix. For example you wouldn’t want drier or varnish on the first coats. You would probably want to use raw oil for the first few apps and boiled oil thereafter. Japan drier only on the last coats ect. With a commercial product such things can’t be controled.

BruceK said:

No knowledge of "Amazon`s Golden Teak Oil" (Amazon, maybe unrelated, just set up shop here), but application of Deks Olje#1 requires initial saturation and then maintenance. My swimstep is just oiled (no added gloss finish#2) and has never gone black. Looks way better than left grey, and won`t develop the ridging of being left unprotected.

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Another vote for Deks Olje. It’s worked well for us

I can only speak historically because the AT34 does not have any external teak (BIG SMILE) There are so many things I like about my AT.

On my N46, I had the teak rail cap (approx. 8 inch wide) done twice a year. I got tired of the expense so I had it stripped and let it go gray. I caught so much grief from those boater around me soooo, I went the expense of having the rail cap redone with a two part process. Shined like a new penny. I got lots of compliments
After 3 years, only one spot needed to be redone, a rail cap of one of the gates.

My add-on swim platform was constructed of reclaimed teak. I never did anything to it so it turned a pleasing gray and was not slippery.

Wood needs protection .. even teak.

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No, it doesn't. Take a stroll around the parks of London some day and check out all those 150 year old silvery grey teak benches. Or all those cedar shingled and redwood shingled houses on both coasts. Oils and finishes are for cosmetics on teak.

caltex,
I’ve got a small piece of teak on my radar platform that is speckled w black mould and the wood grain has opened up so much that you could say it’s trashed. However it still supports the running light.
We have more teak around part of the cabin eve 1” wide and the grain is open but not as bad as the other teak. When the grain opens up dirt and organic stuff can enter the crack and cause moisture to build up causing water to be ever present causing mould and eventially rot. Teak is great but eventially it will go south. It’s not plastic or SS.

But I haven’t seen any part of London.

caltexflanc said:

No, it doesn't. Take a stroll around the parks of London some day and check out all those 150 year old silvery grey teak benches. Or all those cedar shingled and redwood shingled houses on both coasts. Oils and finishes are for cosmetics on teak.

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150 years ago there was a lot of 'heart wood". Today, very few trees are permitted to grow long enough to produce serious "heart wood".

Here’s what it looks like with what I bought, next time it needs something I will consider all the great suggestions.
Hi

Holland America uses Teak Renewer once a week. It's a dry acid mixed with water and applied to the teak. On the ship they wet down the teak and then scatter the Renewer by hand on the decks. Then they follow up with a scotchbrite pad on a floor buffer and a good rinse. The decks are beautiful. Teak Renewer is available on the web. I know most of us don't want to be overly aggressive with our teak, but it works great on the ships.
http://wssproducts.wilhelmsen.com/m.../cleaning-and-maintenance/teak-renewerx-20-kg

mike66 said:

Holland America uses Teak Renewer once a week. It's a dry acid mixed with water and applied to the teak...

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Explains why their decks look so good. Contrast the teak decks on Carnival, failed caulk,loosening planks, water squelch under planks, and I`m guessing, rusty steel deck underneath.
I leave my teak decks alone, cost heaps to renew them, I`m not abrading them away. But on cappings etc, I believe in applying a finish (Deks Olje 1 & usually 2 as well), the PO did not, cappings were ridged in exposed areas.

Keep in mind that those cruise ships will be scrapped long before they reach the age that lots of our trawlers are. Additionally, the Teak is thicker and they have the staff to keep 'em pretty.

DHeckrotte said:

Keep in mind that those cruise ships will be scrapped long before they reach the age that lots of our trawlers are. Additionally, the Teak is thicker and they have the staff to keep 'em pretty.

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The US battle ships had teak decks and a crew to groom them with holy stones.

Holy stones and salt water !
I use a 3M pad on a pole sander and lots of salt water, work great with less blisters and aching backs.

So I was tidying up my teak this past week as I had nothing better to do. I had already done the bightwork so now did the rubbing strake and the swim platform.

I decided to oil the rubbing strake and was planning on oiling the swim platform. But when it was cleaned I found that I liked the look as is. So I did a TF search and found this thread just to make sure I wasn't missing anything. After reading here I left it bare - so I have all three, varnished, oiled and bare!

The swim platform will need replaced in the next couple of years anyway as it is worn in he middle where it gets traffic to the extent that the caulking is raised and shedding a bit.

Yup, the swim platform look great 'naked' and less slippery too.

You can make your own “teak oil” as it’s mostly oil (usually linseed oil or tung oil) and turpentine. You can vary the components of the mix to make the oil best for the first coat on bare wood to a touch-up down the road. I sometimes add a little varnish and at times Japan Drier. If you want the oil to not dry for the longest time use raw linseed oil. Use “boiled linseed oil” if you want to reduce tackiness. May want to consider anti-fungicides. Tea Tree oil is good but quite expensive.

$11 a quart, $30 a gallon at Home Depot!

You don't live in Alaska anymore, Eric. You don't have to make some witches brew to put on your wood. You can go to the store and buy it engineered for that purpose for cheap. Less work, more effective, looks good. What's not to like?

I let the teak on my N46 go gray. I finally got tired of folks complaining about my gray teak and had it professional refinished. They used a 2 part system. It lasted for at least 2 years.
It was no inexpensive but I got many compliments.
The boat fell off the jacks and it took 3 years to settle. There was only one place that needed refinishing

The next boat was an American Tug. NO exterior teak.

I used Dalys for as long as I can remember and since it was what Tolly used, matches everything perfectly. Just heard they are in bankruptcy, so I guess I’ll be shopping another source, buying mass quantities or witches brewing some tung oil.