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Why Teak Sealers Fail

12/02/2008 in Teak Boats, Teak Finishing, Teak Furniture by Martin | No comments

I am sure you know by now that teak is a very unique wood. The naturally occurring oils that saturate teak wood are both a blessing and curse.

The blessing is: Teak’s very heavy oils greatly retard the tendency of the wood to rot or become vulnerable to bugs and worms. They also give teak the beautiful color and texture we all love. Leaving unprotected teak in the sun brings these natural oils to the surface, where they dry (oxidize) to a what some consider a lovely gray.

The curse is: Because teakwood is saturated with a very heavy oil, it can not breathe like most non-oily woods do. As a result, even tiny amounts of water, trapped between a sealing finish and the wood will vaporize when exposed to the Sun and cause a great deal of pressure to accumulate between the wood and the sealer.

Eventually and generally within a few weeks of hot sunny weather, the UV light makes the sealer brittle and small shiny blisters and/or tiny cracks begin to appear. These cracks allow the water vapor to except during the day, but, at night when the dew forms on the sealer and the temperature falls, water (dew) is drawn into these cracks as the air and remaining water vapor between the sealer and wood begin to cool and contract. As this cycle continues the cracks get larger, the areas of sealer not adhered to the wood grow and begin to peel off. The exposed teak, now open to the air and sun, will allow the teak oil to oxidize and turn gray. Additionally, the unprotected teak is open to mold growth and the associated discoloration.

TeakGuard Finish stands alone in that it allows moisture (water vapor) to escape by “breathing”, while at the same time sealing in the woods natural oils and protecting them from oxidization and discoloration caused by UV light.

TeakGuard’s combination of UV absorbers and reflectors, provide a high degree of protection from ultraviolet rays, to further extend the life of both the TeakGuard finish and the wood.

TeakGuard’s polymer resin do not support mold or mildew growth, but if mold is left on the wood during the cleaning and preparation process, it will continue to grow on the wood under the TeakGuard.

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Things You Should Never Do To Your Teak

12/02/2008 in Teak Cleaning, Teak Furniture by Martin | No comments

Because most teak wood is used in outdoor applications, there are some things that you should never do to your teak. This is because they are often very hard to undo. They include but are not limited to the following.

  • Never ever use steel wool on or even around your teak. It leaves fragments of steel that will rust and discolor your teak. Once steel wool fragments are embedded in teak, they are very difficult to remove.
  • Never ever use a steel bristled brush on your teak. They leave fragments that rust too.
  • Never use break fluid, automatic transmission fluid, motor oil, undiluted ammonia, sodium hydroxide, chlorine bleach, or acids stronger than oxalic acid on your teak!
  • Belt sanders are really great tools for grinding away lots of wood. Don’t use them on your teak. They are just too hard to control. Palm sanders (electric) and Jitter Bug sanders (air driven) work great. Dry sanding works poorly regardless of the type of sander used. Wet sanding with waterproof material works really well.
  • Using sand paper finer than 100 grit directly on the wood (even wet sanding) causes wood dust and teak resin to build up in the grain of the wood and on the sand paper. If you want a furniture finish, do the fine sanding on the TeakGuard, not the wood.

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