Restoring exterior teak

[anon]

Hello. Happy Friday.
I have decided to put the de-oxidization of the hull on hold, concentrating on just keeping it clean and protected to stop further oxidation. (I am having the boat hauled next year and at that will follow Maine Sail's process for the entire hull).
Meantime, I am anxious to clean up the exterior teak trim. I removed the eyebrows because they were bowed and really doing nothing for the boat.
I am really thankful for the "internet classic" Maine Sail process for buffing the gel coat. I was wondering if there was a similar step-by-step guide to sanding and finishing the teak trim?
I am leaning toward oiling as opposed to varnishing but I am open to all suggestions. The only thing I know for sure is not to use a wire brush!

[patrice]

Hi,
It is a good job to do.
It is what i'm doing now.
It was almost like yours.
I sanded them clean.
Then used starbrite teak cleaner. It clean and remove mildew.
Then step 2, still starbrite, it make teak color lighter and even out.
After all this, i will put cetol.

The big trouble right  now, the weather is not nice.

[Noah]

Whatever finish system you end up with, I recommend you have some canvas covers made. It goes along way to saving the finish.

[Stu Jackson]

Remove old covering:  heat gun, stripper or sanding

Clean teak:  teak cleaner and brightener

Decide what to do next:  nothing, cetol, varnish, oil

Your boat, your choice.   

[mregan]

I did this as a winter project.  Pulled off all the exterior teak.  Used a heat gun and scraper to get most of the old varnish off.  Then sanded the rest to get a smooth finish.  I then used Cetol Marine Natural Teak.  I believe 4-5 coats, then the Cetol Gloss.  Another 4-5 coats.  Whatever was recommended on the can.  Mine has held up pretty well.  Going on my 4th season and it all still looks pretty good.    I did make sunbrella covers for the handrails.  They were the biggest pain to strip. 

[Ron Hill]

Sophie : Doesn't look like you'll have too much work with a heat gun as your old finish "ist kaput". 
You do have a bunch of sanding to do to get your teak smooth.

As one of the last steps, wash with some Clorox water to kill all the mold spores then rinse.

A thought   

[KWKloeber]

Just as a caution, mold remediation contractors generally no longer use bleach as part of the wash down and agencies recommend against it  -- I was deeply involved with a "recent" remediation. 

For a few other reason unrelated to this, the preferred treatment is now hydrogen peroxide.  But bleach attacks the grain of (not necessarily "softwood" species but) "soft" woods[size=78%]like pine, teak, etc, so best to avoid it and use OHOH out of the bottle.[/size]

I use oxygen bleach (dollar store "oxuclean") to clean teak  Works great with a very soft brush across the grain, or a sponge.

Wet down teak,  Sprinkle on OC, mushing into a paste, let the sun work on it, keeping moist (with an occasional hose LIGHT misting.)  Work w/ sponge or soft brush, rinse off.  Repeat as necessary.

kk

[Stu Jackson]

Instead of concocting new exotic materials to deal with the wood, you might consider this:  go into a marine store and buy two bottles:  teak cleaner and teak brightener.  They figured out what to put into it in 1493, right after Columbus landed.  He did confuse it with rum, but soon got over it.