How to Get that Nice, Natural Wood Feel

[otherthan]

iv seen a photo the boat was white and all wood was a nice light gray in color, at first I said to myself this wood has been neglected?

then I read that some sailors would never but anything on teak, they let leave it to the elements.

first let me say I cant tell the diference between teak or any other wood, so my question may very well be useless in any way or direction, but every time I ask something here I learn more then I bargin for.

Can I sand all my wood including interior and let it natural?
or should I use somekind of oil on it?

[zeehag]

i uswe sea water and a 3m pad instead of sandin gteak--teak is very spensive aqnd rare now -- sanding makes it go away. being grey isnt all that good for th ewood--i keep mine a natural wood color--by using oil after i clean it with 3m [pad and sea water. mine feels like wood--as it is-- and is real wood with oil. interior-- usually on production boats is veneer--- that isnt thick-- i leave my veneer alone or use a natural colorless oil based substance on it--last time i used oil in my ericson--looked good--hand rubbed.

you can do your wood any way you want to --is your wood. i do mine the easiest way i know-- i have 110 ft of teak cap rail on my formosa---that is a lot of wood--you have a production boat with grab rails and such outside and a nice interior-- cetol is easy care and wont allow the wood to crack, as it will when left to grey out-- the grey is powdered teak. yes is from neglect. proper wood care includes keeping the wood to look like wood. after the grey , teak has a next stage--cracking and becoming ugly. you dont want teak to crack.

i found watco teak oil does a really good job of protection and beautifying. regular teak oil doesnt make a skin, watco does. isnt varnish , isnt cetol and isnt any kind of stain. is teak oil with mineral spirits ... is easy care for wood.

[roverhi]

Careful sanding the bulkheads and other plywood. Depending on the quality of the plywood, the exterior veneer can be anything from paper thin to an 1/8" or so. I've had some veneered plywood that was so thin that barely touching it with a sander ground through exterior veneer.

I've had terrible luck with Watco oil. It stays sticky, attracts dirt, turns black with mold. and looks like crap in a month or less of application. I've seen furniture finished with Tung Oil that was beautiful but don't know how it holds up on the exterior. Varnish will work if you are anal about staying ahead of the UV/wear. Need at least 5 coats of varnish initially and then a recoat every 1-4 months depending on your location and sun exposure. Every few years you'll have to take it back to bare wood and start over. There are newer varnish like products on the market from Sikkens and others. Some people swear by them, I swear at them. They tend to have an orangish, almost paint like finish that, to me, looks worse than weathered naked teak. There may be some even newer varieties of the above that don't have the strong orange hue. Didn't find these varnish substitutes to be any longer lived than real varnish. Last time I was at the chandlery, noticed that Epifanes has a new varnish especially for teak and other oily woods. Haven't tried it see if it is any better than their regular varnish that I like.

Be careful sanding teak. My old boat has had the caprail varnished for a long time. Unfortunately, the following owners didn't stay ahead of the UV breakdown of the varnish so had to sand heavily to bring it back. The cap rail is now only about a quarter inch thick, down from its original 3/4".

[otherthan]

could I remouve the old varnish with a chimical remouver, or is sanding my only option?

I would like to try cetol

[slowshoes]

Heat gun and scraper.