[Sentoa] Has anyone refinished their teak?

[John Baczek]

For durability, I've refinished the teak stairs in the pilot house and salon.  I used MinWax clear satin polyurethane.  Being oil-based, you don't have to worry about the factory oil finish (Daly's + Forbee's lemon oil).  You will need to sand to remove stains and to smooth the teak.  As with any oil-based poly or varnish, I thin the first coat with a little thinner to improve absorbtion and leveling.  Initially, you'll need at least 3 coats.  Except for the last 2 coats, in between coats, I'll do a light buffing with a fine steelwool.
 
Since the stairs in the pilot house and rear steps in the salon are exposed to weather and get heavy traffic, I refinish with another light sanding and another coat of poly each season.  The interior salon steps will hold up better, and may only need retouch every 2 - 3 years.  I refinished the top of the table the same way... sand, clean, and covered with 3 coats of poly.  The clear satin finish will match the low gloss of the original oil finish.  
 
The past 2 seasons, I tried carpet treads on the rear 3 steps leading into the salon.  While that protects the poly finish, I've not found a way to keep those treads from moving around.  That double-sided fiberglass carpet tape breaks down after a while and creates a gooey mess.  I like the carpet treads since they pick up a lot of moisture and debris, but I need to look for another method to hold them down.
 
John Baczek
Puffin, NT32-266
Watch Hill, RI
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.samurai.com/pipermail/sentoa/attachments/20090507/4128f2b7/attachment.html>