Who has used Teak Honey?

[RebinVa]

Has anyone used Teak Honey? How is it? How much trouble is it to apply? Any problems over time??

[Jack Tar]

Honey Teak. Good stuff and lasts a looooong time

[Niagara 35 Sailor]

I have had Honey Teak on my boat for four years now and apply one additional coat per year. It is great- almost as good as varnish in appearance but a fraction of the work. It is expensive intitially and not hard (but time consuming) apply; but in the long run the time saving is huge.

[RichH]

Im now going into my 5th season with Honey Teak on a "teakey"; looks like I'll make it through 6 with only minor repair. Boat is located on the Chesapeake. I double coat with the clear top coat every two years for maintenance, powerbuffing in the years in between to restore brilliant gloss. Be sure to have two or three 'full thickness' base coats or you risk premature failure.

If you're a fanatic or recovering varnish-aholic, you can flat sand the top coat and hand rub with rotten stone for a 'museum grade' finish. The cooler the weather the better the flow when appying honey teak.
Dont apply to Iroko!!!

[delmarrey]

So, where can you buy Teak Honey/ Honey Teak ???? Haven't seen it on the market in the Pacific NW or even West Marine.

[RichH]

Honey Teak can be obtained direct from www.signaturefinish.com

[irwinsailor]

Is is a lot better than Sicken's??

[delmarrey]

But a $1.94 a sq. ft. @ a min. of 50 sq. ft. is a little steep for my interior. For exterior I would go for it. but I have no exterior woods. My last boat it "wood" have been great.

[RichH]

For interior coatings that have no UV exposure there is no need for Honey Teak. I do use it on the UV exposed interior surfaces of hatches, etc. Otherwise for interior work, for me, nothing beats a tung oil based varnish .... and then hand-rubbing with either rotten stone or various grades of pumice for ultra high quality finishes. For dazzling interiors I prefer a 'heavy resinated' Tung Oil/Seal (10-15 coats) then hand-rubbing (for irridescent 'patina' development) .... almost looks like a 'french polish' if done well.

On exteriors you can 'hand-rub' Honey Teak ... but who wants to make all those Hinckleys turn green with envy?

for exterior work, the initial cost of HT is indeed very high; but, when you compare the total cost and labor of Cetol, varnish, Paint, etc. the HT allows more sailing time and for me cheapest overall (~6 years) $$. I dont think that I'm going to get more than 6 yrs from my HT without major major repairs and will probably bite the bullet and totally redo it.