I'm restoring a folding garden bench that came from my grandparents and
is probably 1930's vintage or earlier.

I'm well aware that I shouldn't remove the patina it has but I've had to
sand it lightly all over to remove the lichen that is on it. The seat
is thinnish teak strips and they've all had to be replaced.

Do I need to wash the wood with something to remove the rest of the
lichen which is in cracks, etc.,(ie some of the wood still looks
slightly green), or will a good quality teak wood treatment deal with that?

Thanks
Rob

On Aug 7, 10:33*am, Rob G
wrote:

Do I need to wash the wood with something to remove the rest of the
lichen which is in cracks, etc.,(ie some of the wood still looks
slightly green), or will a good quality teak wood treatment deal with that?

Decking cleaners are a mix of oxalic acid bleach / algicide and a
detergent. They're a good start on this. I wouldn't expect to ever
restore teak to "as new", as the silvering of old teak is part of its
behaviour and putting it back to brown would need something quite
artificial doing to it over the top.

Try Organoil for a nice finish on posh bare-wood garden furniture. Not
many good indoor oils are really up to this sort of outdoor use, and
the DIY-barn brands are very low quality.

On Aug 10, 12:31*pm, Andy Dingley wrote:
On Aug 7, 10:33*am, Rob G
wrote:

Do I need to wash the wood with something to remove the rest of the
lichen which is in cracks, etc.,(ie some of the wood still looks
slightly green), or will a good quality teak wood treatment deal with that?

Decking cleaners are a mix of oxalic acid bleach / algicide and a
detergent. They're a good start on this. I wouldn't expect to ever
restore teak to "as new", as the silvering of old teak is part of its
behaviour and putting it back to brown would need something quite
artificial doing to it over the top.

Try Organoil for a nice finish on posh bare-wood garden furniture. Not
many good indoor oils are really up to this sort of outdoor use, and
the DIY-barn brands are very low quality.


Thanks Andy for your help
Do I take it then that teak oil is the wrong finish to apply ?

The wood was sanded back as far as necessary to clean off loose matter
and avoid losing the patina. I've had to replace all the seat slats
with new wood and recycle a couple of the recovered ones into the back
panel.

Rob

On Aug 10, 10:01*pm, robgraham wrote:

Do I take it then that teak oil is the wrong finish to apply ?

Teak oil is generally a non film-forming oil, which means it has
little weather resistance. OTOH, it's hard to find a film-forming oil
that does have good UV resistance (i.e. an outdoor grade oil).
Organoil seems to be good for high-quality outdoor woodwork, such as
garden furniture.

A lot of "teak oil" is also _very_ expensive. Sold through the DIY
barns in tiny bottles for high prices. Looking at litres and upwards
from a real toolshop goes further.