Special Tools

We at All Guard Products recognize that applying TeakGuard to you teak furniture or boat is a labor of love. That translates to: It can be a lot of work! Even though the results are beautiful and long lasting, it still is a "labor of love".

To reduce the amount of labor required, we are constantly looking for better, easier, faster ways to prepare you teak for TeakGuard. To that end, this page includes tools and products that are locally available that can make the process better, easier and faster.

3M Sanding Blocks
One of our commercial users has found that the 3M and Norton medium and course sanding blocks used in combination with TeakGuard Cleaner and water are very effective at removing mold, body oil and teak oil. The advantage of using this product over the bronze wool is: availability, ease of use and improved resulting finish of flat and nearly flat surfaces. Bronze wool is still superior for tight contoured places and decks with deep grain groves (checking). Never use steel wool on your teak or TeakGuard. Refer to the used of TeakGuard Super Cleaner for further reducing the cleaning effort.

Power sanders make sanding much easer but can also cause damage. Belt sanders should not be used at all. Wet sanding with a palm sander and air driven jitter bug sander work very will when used with 60 to 100 grit bonded belt sanding material.

A word of caution when sanding decking and swim platforms; Though TeakGuard does not produce a slippery finish, putting a furniture finish on areas where there is going to be foot traffic and water or pond scum can cause serious risk of hydroplaning that can result in slips and falls. Leaving a small amount of checking on walking surfaces will substantially reduce the risk of hydroplaning.

Power Washers
We generally discourage the use of power washers because of the general consensus that more is better. Power washers can be VERY destructive to wood including teak if not configured and used properly. We have found that power washers that produce more than 1300 PSI are just too powerful to be used effectively.

If you insist on using a power washer, a 40 degree fan spray nozzle is absolutely mandatory. Further, using the wand makes controlling the spray much too difficult. Installing the nozzle directly onto the control handle provides much better control. Keep the nozzle at least 6 inches away from the wood and keep the attack angle of the water at 45 degrees or less. If you must use a power washer, we recommend that you use it to initially clean the area, followed by a normal application of TeakGuard Cleaner, and then rinse with the power washer. A power washer by itself will not remove the teak oil. Care must be taken to avoid removing any wood with the water blast as it will expose new teak oil.

Paint Sprayers
Applying TeakGuard Finish with a standard high pressure paint sprayers takes a great deal of skill that is not easily acquired by the average person and they create a large amount of over spray mist that gets on everything. For most users, using the commonly available sponge brushes is superior. There is a commercially available high volume low pressure (HVLP) sprayer that works very well, but at nearly $100 plus the air compressor and low pressure regulator it is much too expensive for the average user though it works very well.

As we become aware of other special tools and applications they will be added here.