Teak oil or varnish .

snowwolf

Hello all ....
Well Roll on the new season till we all get a bit of boat done and less maintenance what i want to know is .
what is the best and low maintenance do i Teak oil or do i all in one stain and varnish the mast on my boat was brought home and repaired and teak oiled but the grab rails need to be done i already have them stripped so they are now bear wood so what is the best thing to do .
do i oil or varnish any suggestions welcome and thanks in advance .

fergal.b

Oiling is less work but you may not get as good a finish that you can get from varnish but to keep that finish you might have to sand and varnish each year or two also some woods like teak have oil in them and don't take varnish very well. I would go with oil for the handrails but if they are the same wood as the flag pole and you want them to match use the same stain and varnish.:)



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snowwolf

Cheers Fergal .
Teak oil it is So .

Roeboats

May I suggest instead of teak oil that you use raw linseed oil and stockholm tar mix. This won't go black, it will grey over time, and is real easy to apply. You don't have to wait between coats to let it dry like you would with boiled linseed or teak oil.
The stockholm tar is an anti bacterial/fungicide but you can leave it out if you want.
The best raw linseed oil is cold pressed and is available as horse food additive from farm supply shops. likewise you can pick up the stockholm tar there too. It's a far superior product to that sold in paint shops and cheaper. Lovely clear yellow colour.
Lash on as many coats as you can, keep soaking the wood until you've had enough. Re-apply over the season when you get a chance and before it goes grey and it will stay bright.
There is one draw back; the raw linseed oil takes a long time to dry, not really a problem as you can wipe off any excess and it will just feel a little greasy to the touch. Not good if you want to sit or put porous/absorbent stuff in contact with it. Although it will wash out.
Hope this helps

snowwolf

Thanks for your input and i will look into it .

pedroeibar1

Different oils, varnishes and paints simply do not last out in the elements and need to be renewed, it is just a matter of how often and how fast they deteriorate.

I want the wood on my boat to look good (there is not much of it!) in addition to being protected by whatever I apply to it. That is why I now use varnish.

As Fergal said, teak contains oil and if the teak wood is ‘new’ it can leach oil when in the heat of direct sunlight; that interferes with the bond between wood and the coating when a paint or varnish is used and it will blister and crack.

I have tried teak oil on the toe rails – a PITA, as it had to be done regularly and never looked good.

I then tried an expensive oil from Scandinavia – Deks Oil, it did not last but did a great protection job as it has a penetrating ingredient. It had to be renewed several times during the season and that was messy as the wood was in place. However it did not penetrate evenly and quite soon the grab rails and rubbing-strake looked blotchy.

A couple of seasons later I brought all ‘back to the wood’ and built up a decent covering of varnish – starting with a 50:50 mix of spirit:yacht varnish. Several coats of that, then did 75:25 yacht varnish:spirit for a few coats and then a few final coats of pure varnish. Each time the surface was lightly rubbed down between coats. I sold that boat but still see her – the hull and rubbing strakes are manky where the new owner has hopped her of walls, jetties, etc., but the grabrails and tiller still gleam.

I realise some will jump in and say linseed is used in Scandinavia but I would not touch it with the proverbial barge-pole! There are a few grades and types linseed oil – which actually is produced from flax seeds. It has been for many years a basic ‘carrier’ ingredient in oil paint (which contains many other things) but it is not suitable for an outdoor environment, it goes gooey in heat, takes ages to dry and does not dry ‘hard’. What is known as BLO (boiled linseed oil) is plain linseed oil brought up to a temperature – not boiled - at which time additives (‘japan driers’) are mixed in to help hasten the drying process. These create polymers (long oil particles) so when the finish is dried off they harden. However it is not very waterproof and goes sticky when hot. Both types do not contain fungicides (which you need outdoors) so after a while linseed oil will go mouldy with black spots. If you want to go the linseed oil route, drop into Lidl and pick up some cheapo cooking oil, it will do the same thing for a much cheaper price.
My advice - use varnish. (Nice boat BTW!)

snowwolf

Thanks very much for your insight .
you are right in what you say about the oil any oil that is . you constantly have to keep doing it a few time each season which i don't really want to be doing but it does look well for a while when i use the oil but only for awhile then it has to be done again and again . so i was thinking of doing the wood with an all in one stain and varnish to save me having to keep doing the wood a few times each season . so really i know what you are saying regarding the oil . i might just end up using an all in one stain and varnish in the end to save time and maintenance . thank you for your comment on the boat i only bought it last year and want to spend as much time on her this season without having to keep looking after the wood .

copper12

I would go along with Pedro
Use a good varnish’ the smallest tin you can get, it goes a long way.
Use several coats’ and the finest synthetic brush you can find’ cheep as chips’ and better than some of the more expensive types’ rap the brush in cling film’ between coats, it will hold for a couple of days’ this way; rather than having to clean the brush after every use.

snowwolf

thanks very much for your input . as i said in my post i do not want to be spending all my time on maintenance of the wood so which ever makes it look good for longer then i will be sticking with that so we will just have to wait and see . oil or varnish that is the question ???