Restoring the teak shelves using the TeakGuard system

[wilburpan]

Confession time. I haven’t really been too careful with the teak shelves that I got for Smaug in terms of maintaining their appearance. It’s been about a year since Smaug arrived, and I haven’t done anything special to protect the shelves from the elements. I basically leave the shelves mounted on Smaug all the time, and he usually sits in an area on my back patio that’s exposed to the weather. As a result, the shelves have weathered to a gray color.

I should note that this doesn’t affect the teak at all from a structural standpoint. Teak is naturally rot resistant, which makes it such a great wood for shelves like these that will be exposed to the elements. The changing of the color to a silver-gray is the natural result of weathering, and is strictly an appearance issue.

I’ve spoken to Dennis before about restoring the appearance of the shelves, and he wasn’t able to recommend a specific product since wasn’t sure if the stuff he uses to finish the shelves in Indonesia is available to consumers in the U.S. I did some googling, and ran across TeakGuard and Super Teak Cleaner. This stuff is intended for boats as well as outdoor teak furniture. I figured that teak on a boat is in a much harsher environment than my back patio, so I decided to give it a try.

I bought the TeakGuard Teak Maintenance Kit, which was about $45 including shipping. It came with the Super Teak Cleaner and the TeakGuard, along with a Norton medium sanding sponge, some bronze wool, foam brushes, and two scrubbing brushes.

The first step was to sand the shelf. I used the Norton sanding block, which was close to 100 grit sandpaper.

You can see how the sanded surface differs from the weathered surface, showing that the silver-gray color that teak takes on over time is really just a discoloration of the very top layer of the wood. I only sanded for about 5 minutes before taking this picture.

I do woodworking for a hobby, so after I was done with the sanding sponge, I felt compelled to sand up to 180 grit. You don’t have to do this. Here’s the final result.

At this point you can see wood that is more like the natural color of teak, along with areas in the grain that still are colored black. The black area is mold that feeds off of the natural oils that are in teak. To clean this up, I used the Super Teak Cleaner. You spray this on the wood to wet the surface, and let it sit for about 60 seconds. Then you take the scrub brushes, and scrub the wood. I could see the black stuff coming off pretty easily. The instructions say to wet the surface with more water if it is drying out, and after you’re done, to hose the wood down well. I did this part on my back patio. Here’s the result.

The shelf looks like the natural teak color because it is still wet from the water. After it dried, the color fades.

Once the wood is dry from the cleaning process, it’s time to apply the TeakGuard. This is pretty straightforward. You pour a little of the TeakGuard on the wood, and spread it out with the foam brushes. You want to get enough on so that the surface is covered, and enough so that it will stay wet for at least 15 minutes, but not so much that the surface turns a milky color as it dries. I’m making this sound a lot more difficult than it really is. You can see how the TeakGuard changes the color of the teak compared to the cleaned teak.

Since the water that’s part of the TeakGuard gets absorbed into the wood, the surface becomes slightly fuzzy because the grain of the wood swells in response to the water. After the first coat was dry, I took the bronze wool and scrubbed the surface lightly to remove the raised grain and fuzziness. It’s important to use bronze wool instead of steel wool because fragments of steel wool will discolor the finish as it rusts. Bronze wool won’t have this issue. After the raised grain was knocked back down, I applied a second and a third coat.

Now I have to let the finish dry overnight.

[MacKenzie]

Wilbur, that is stunningly beautiful    

[tinyfish]

Wow what a great write up Wilburpan and the shelves look brand new.

[bosco]

Wilbur that stuff looks like a great product.  I will be ordering this for all my teak pieces.  I hope that the cover will help limit the weathering a bit.

 

Also, what would you recommend to keep treating it as a preventative as opposed to a refinish??? 

 

I figure, twice a year using something to help keep it sealed and clean.  Dennis recommended something before which I sourced to Home Depot but I can't find where that post is

[PRippley]

Very nice Wilbur, can tell you are a wood worker!👌

[kjs]

Good job. I do wood working and restorative finishing as well. I have to tell you not only has Dennis designed and built the best komodo style grill on the market he is also a skilled furniture designer and master woodworker. I am equally sure he has some outstanding tips for teak restoration, I think the forum would like to hear from him on this topic. There are several solutions and the more information we all have the better.

 

Great post Wilbur!!

[wilburpan]

Wilbur that stuff looks like a great product.  I will be ordering this for all my teak pieces.  I hope that the cover will help limit the weathering a bit.

 

Also, what would you recommend to keep treating it as a preventative as opposed to a refinish??? 

 

I figure, twice a year using something to help keep it sealed and clean.  Dennis recommended something before which I sourced to Home Depot but I can't find where that post is

 

Covering the teak certainly would help limit the weathering. What you see on my shelves is pretty much a worst case scenario — no covers, never taking the shelves off of Smaug to put them with the other accessories.

 

The instructions that come with TeakGuard say to reapply the finish once a year. That doesn’t mean to go through all the steps that I did above. That really just means to brush the TeakGuard on once a year, which should be a 15 minute job at most. Going forward, I probably will do it in the spring and fall.

 

There are other products out there, but I liked this one because it seems to have the best chance of really protecting the wood. You can find Watco “Teak Oil†at Home Depot, but the problem with that stuff is that it’s not actually teak oil. I can get into all the technical details if you want, but the short answer is that Watco Teak Oil isn’t really an oil finish, but a wipe-on varnish. (The way that finishes are regulated, the name on the bottle doesn’t have to describe what’s actually in the finish.) Since it’s a varnish, reapplying another coat of finish over it a year later might be problematic. I would probably have to sand off the old finish and reapply a new coat.

 

TeakGuard is a water-based acrylic, and so reapplication of another coat later on should be less problematic. Also, since the black streaks that appeared over the course of a year are mold feeding off the oil in the teak wood, the acrylic won’t be a food source for the mold. This should prevent the mold from reappearing.

[GoFrogs91]

Nicely done Wilbur. They look straight from the factory.

Benton

[ckreef]

Great write up. Looks like a good product. The final appearance is outstanding.

[wilburpan]

After letting the finish dry overnight, I was prepared to apply a few more coats, but I’m pretty happy with the result, so I didn't. I’m declaring victory at this point.
 
Here’s a couple of pictures of the refinished shelf next to the other one that I hadn’t touched yet.





Just in case this is important to anyone, the TeakGuard doesn’t result in exactly the same color as the original as it came straight from Dennis. The photo below is the underside of the shelf, which I didn’t clean and refinish. You can see the original color of the teak on the inside of the stainless steel bracket, which is different from the TeakGuard, which you can see at the edge of the shelf. The TeakGuard is less orange and more tan in color. I should also mention that matching a previous finish is one of THE HARDEST tasks in woodworking, and unless you have access to the original finishing product, it’s nearly impossible to restore a piece of wood to its original appearance.



Overall, I’m really pleased with this product. It’s easy to apply, and I like the way the finish looks when the process is complete. Altogether, if I wasn’t stopping to take photos, I could have done both shelves in 2 hours, not counting waiting time to let the shelves dry after the cleaning/scrubbing step and the drying time between applying coats of TeakGuard. When I refresh the finish next year, it should take maybe 15 minutes to put a new coat on. None of the chemicals are harsh, and I didn’t feel compelled to put on a respirator or gloves for this project. The finish gives me more of a feeling of the wood, as opposed to a thick plasticky finish like you would see on a bar countertop. The information sheet that came with TeakGuard supports this, as it states that TeakGuard has no varnish in it that would build up on the wood surface. Instead, the finish penetrates the wood.
 
The only thing left is to see how the TeakGuard really holds up over time. I guess I’ll have to post back again in a year with the results.
 
In the meantime, I would say that anyone who is looking to get the teak parts of their KK grill looking new again should consider using the TeakGuard/Super Teak Cleaner kit. They really give you everything you need for this process. If I had to do it all over again, I’d have no problem buying this kit again.

[MacKenzie]

Awesome, to state the obvious, a world of difference, they do look new.

[bosco]

it looks absolutely incredible man!!!

 

Will you start covering now??

[wilburpan]

Thanks, Bosco! I think I’ll still be lazy about covering the shelves because it’s one less thing I’ll have to do, and because I do want to see how the TeakGuard holds up over time.

[Poochie]

Beautiful work, wilbur. You really brought that shelf back to life with that kit.

[DennisLinkletter]

The only change I would recommend is using ScotchBrite instead of sandpaper.. I have removed some of the soft wood and raised the grain to give the tables a special texture..  (It can be seen in the images bottom two images in the first post)  sanding with a block would flatten and loose some of this natural texture..  I like the way you did not put on too much finish.. I like an "in" the wood not "on" the wood finish/look..

Great Job!

[wilburpan]

Hi Dennis,

 

FWIW, I wouldn’t worry too much about sandpaper vs. ScotchBrite. I know what you’re saying about sanding and the natural grain texture of the teak. The depth of the gray color change is so shallow compared to the depth of the grain that this won’t be an issue for the most part.

 

Besides, teak is so hard that it would take a lot of effort to sand away the grain texture by hand. I suppose you could do it, but you’d have to be REALLY committed to the idea.

[mguerra]

Kit enroute, thanks for the tip wilbur.

[dstr8]

Nice job and post up Wilbur...I need to do the exact same thing to mine...thanks!

[GoFrogs91]

Thanks Wilbur. I have used the treatment on my 19" and am trying to recover the shelves on my 23". I put a bunch of teak oil on them and it has formed a lacquer-like glaze that I have to remove. Appreciate you sharing.

Benton

[mguerra]

Ok here’s the thread I referenced in the other thread!