What is the best treatment for longevity?

So far I have come up with 'cover it in winter if you cant take it indoors'

But what to paint on it?

And please no 'I have read/heard/know a bloke down the pub who' -
personal experience please!

--
There’s a mighty big difference between good, sound reasons and reasons
that sound good.

Burton Hillis (William Vaughn, American columnist)

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

> What is the best treatment for longevity?

after first year, mine got a lot of green algae type coating on it,
sanded it and used "teak protector" that the manufacturer threw in.

<https://www.lindseyteak.com/product/teak-protector-1-litre/>

looked nice, but didn't last long.

> So far I have come up with 'cover it in winter if you cant take it indoors'

I think that's a good start.

> But what to paint on it?

next time I didn't have the patience to sand it, and probably against
advice I pressure-washed it, it came up a treat, then I used Wickes teak
oil, it didn't add much colour, so I gave it 2-3 coats, looked good again.

But after another winter it went a bit too dark, but no green gunge to
rub off onto clothing, so it's still ok 2 years later.

next time, will probably be pressure wash again, and single coat of
Wickes oil (made by Bartoline) and resist temptation for extra coats,
knowing it darkens with age.

On Sun, 18 Jul 2021 15:07:30 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

> What is the best treatment for longevity?
>
> So far I have come up with 'cover it in winter if you cant take it
> indoors'
>
> But what to paint on it?
>
> And please no 'I have read/heard/know a bloke down the pub who' -
> personal experience please!

Lives outside in a sheltered area and gets pressure washed each spring.
It seems to survive.
Then again "teak" covers a wide range of woods and some are more robust
than others.

Had ours between 10 and 20 years.
Bought it at a show which means it really was a long time ago.

Cheers

Dave R

--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

--
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

In article <sd1cj8$vj7$1@dont-email.me>, tnp@invalid.invalid says...
>
> What is the best treatment for longevity?
>
> So far I have come up with 'cover it in winter if you cant take it indoors'
>
> But what to paint on it?
>
> And please no 'I have read/heard/know a bloke down the pub who' -
> personal experience please!

Mine is Lister teak. Once a year I scrub it by hand with soapy water
and a brush, then rinse with the hose. Leaves it smooth and silvery .
That's it. Mine is over 50 years old, has always lived outside all
year round with no cover, still in excellent nick.

When the furniture and I were younger I treated it with teak oil ,
but only once; as the oil ages it turns blackish and patchy.

I gave one of our elderly seats to a son who has powerwashed it;
which rends to open the grain so I don't recommend it.

Janet

On 18/07/2021 15:07, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> What is the best treatment for longevity?
>
> So far I have come up with 'cover it in winter if you cant take it indoors'
>
> But what to paint on it?
>
> And please no 'I have read/heard/know a bloke down the pub who' -
> personal experience please!

Do you mind if it goes to its natural silver weathered look?

Any decent furniture oil will work OK. The ones with a brown dye and UV
stabiliser will slow the bleaching and silvering effects of weathering.

If you must paint it with something then the Sikkens(sp?) base coat
clear system from Dulux decorator centres is about the best I have
found. We use that on the VH picnic tables and it lasts better than most
of the other things I have tried. But it still fails after a while.

The worst ones are the tins of water based brown crap from the sheds
which flakes off the following year unable to survive a single winter.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On Sun, 18 Jul 2021 19:59:12 +0100, Janet <nobody@home.com> wrote:

>In article <sd1cj8$vj7$1@dont-email.me>, tnp@invalid.invalid says...
>>
>> What is the best treatment for longevity?
>>
>> So far I have come up with 'cover it in winter if you cant take it indoors'
>>
>> But what to paint on it?
>>
>> And please no 'I have read/heard/know a bloke down the pub who' -
>> personal experience please!
>
> Mine is Lister teak. Once a year I scrub it by hand with soapy water
>and a brush, then rinse with the hose. Leaves it smooth and silvery .
>That's it. Mine is over 50 years old, has always lived outside all
>year round with no cover, still in excellent nick.
>
> When the furniture and I were younger I treated it with teak oil ,
>but only once; as the oil ages it turns blackish and patchy.
>
> I gave one of our elderly seats to a son who has powerwashed it;
>which rends to open the grain so I don't recommend it.
>
> Janet

My experience is very similar to yours. Bench must be getting on for
forty years old, always kept outside, never covered. Only six parts to
it (two across the back; two across the seat, and two end pieces),
held together by eight wooden wedges - no metal bits or screws to rust
- and easy to disassemble when moving house. In the early days I
teak-oiled it every couple of years, but got tired of doing that so
pressure-washed it. That stripped off all the accumulated crud and as
you say, opened up the grain a bit, but that didn't worry me and the
bench looked a whole lot better for it. Since then, it's had nothing,
and it's a nice silvery grey now, and still got many years of life in
it. It'll see me out, I'm sure!

--
Chris

Gardening in West Cornwall, very mild, sheltered
from the West, but open to the North and East.