How do I refinish a 35 year old Teak Veneer table?

Hello,

My mom just gave me her old teak dinning table. 35 years old...she thought it was solid wood but upon inspection the 2 end extension leafs have the veneer coming up a little and they've buckled a bit (from getting rained on when she used it outside once). The legs are solid and the main table top is still pretty good and flat. The finish is very uneven right now...light parts, darker parts, the odd paint splatter and dent. The leafs are much darker than the main part which has faded a lot. Mom would use oil and wax on it but not for many years. It feels quite "dry", nothing waxy to scratch off with my finger nail really. I'd like to get it back in as best shape I can (newbie here) and stain it a really dark dark chestnut brown to match my other furniture (which i also hope will hide it's imperfections too).
I was just going to give it a light hand sanding then stain it and rub in some teak oil but i really have no idea what the correct thing to do is.

thanks
Andrew

 

Andrew,
It sounds like that used to be a beautiful table. You should be able to salvage it and make good use of it again.

A word of caution: Since you're dealing with veneer, you must be very careful not to sand it off. One method of sanding that type of veneer is to take a number 2 pencil and make a zigzag mark from one end of each section to the other. When the pensil mark is gone, that's as much as you should sand. Any more sanding will create a big problem.

I suggest you do you sanding with 150 to 180 grit sandpaper. I definitely would not go any coarser. Sand the entire table to open the pores of the wood. This will probably take some of the light color out of the mid-section of the table.
Teak is a very oily wood, but can be finished after it has been dried out, as you table has done. But to give the table that "deep' look it's best to go back with a penetrating type finish. Stain the wood after sanding, the color you chose. the center section may have to be done multiple times to even up the color.

At this point, either teak oil or tung oil can be easily used to rebuild the finish. Technically, a ureathane finish can be applied at this point but with teak it won't bring out the natural beauty of the wood. Teak oil and tung oil finishes are both quite water proof but protect both from hot bowls or pans.

Multiple coats of either the teak oil or tung oil must be applied to build a good finish. Don't be surprised if 15 to 20 coats need to be applied but when you're done it will be a fantastic looking table.

CD

 

wow...I came to the right place!

thank you for the great advice!!!!

 

Leaves often differ in color because their exposure to sun is much less.

If you don't often seat enough people to use the leaves, get a nice table cloth.

White damask Irish linen is best; it's pretty tough, you can use bleach on the stains, and you would be surprised how often people sell them cheaply at yard sales because they've yellowed.

 

I have a nice teak table that I followed the instructions posted here on re-finishing. I stripped it down, cleaned it sanded it and then stained it with my desired oil wood stain colour. I applied about 3 coats of stain. It was looking really, really nice. I let the stain dry for 3-4 days and then applied a coat of "tung 'n teak" oil. I let that settle in for 24 hours and then applied a second more liberal coat of "tung 'n teak" oil. I checked the table 24 hours later and was shocked to find that the nice look of the table had gone and it now looked all blotchy and looked like the stain had worn out in some parts (many places). It looks terrible right now, like as if it needs more stain. I am afraid to do anything in case it's the wrong move. What will make that blotchy appearance go away....more stain, more "tung 'n teak oil" or something else?
Please don't tell me I have to start all over again