Teak garden furniture. To oil or not to oil?

[LittleBella]

Well?

Should I bother? Is it too much arse? Or will I regret it if I don't? And if I should, what with?

We didn't oil our garden bench seat. After this year's lovely weather, one of the seat slats has gone rotten. So I will now be oiling our other garden furniture.

I think it depends partly on whether you leave it outside in the winter, or put it away, or cover it.

I have used teak oil, you can also get Danish oil, which is more expensive, or some sort of wax stuff.

Blimey teak's not supposed to rot is it?

if you want it to stay the lovely brown colour, you will need to keep up the oiling, and put it away in winter. and if you let it slip, you'll need to arse about sanding down or jet power washing to get back to the brown and then oil again... and maintain.

otoh - apparently the silvery look it takes on when you dont do all that, is actually a desirable patina, so there you go.

up to you to decide which you love best (and teak furniture not cheap so you ought to make a choice one way or t'other) but ive always been a lover of the path of least resistance, me.

yes our neighbour didn't and it's just grey wood now

um, no. teak isnt supposed to rot.

was it in the shade and wet alot, with things growing on it etc?

ours hasnt rotted at all and i have given up doing owt with it long ago!

ah, you see SEA, ythat is what you call a 'silvery patina' donchaknow.

Oil it.

We didn't and 3yrs later ours is cracked and weary looking. We have ordered a new set (not wood this time, a more modern metal and mesh set)

I like the silvery grey colour but the wood looks dry and splintery.

i blame my dad, he told them it was teak and wouldn't need looking after.

i think they had a teak imitation

ooh what's that fussy?

So will it last longer if it's oiled? We got a set this year (not that we've been able to use it with this crappy weather) and it's losing its brown colour already. How often should I oil it?

Not sure if ours was actual teak, but was deffo a hardwood. Anyway when we bought it we were told we could oil it to maintain its appearance, but if we didn't it would turn silvery, but not harm it. It isn't in the shade much of the day, but we don't have a cover for it or put it away in the winter, so it has been outside in all weathers for about 7 years, and this year has been particularly wet.

get oiling to be on the safe side

lol at "silvery patina" vs "grey wood"

Our stuff - probably not teak as such - is not so much silvery now as scabby horrible grey, and completely disgusting.

So IME you should either oil, or cover for the winter, or get plastic

Our garden table and chairs have now been oiled and will be put away for the winter.

Oh yes, or both A and B!

We did do that our first year, SMTB - cheap stuff doesn't half weather fast though, so unless you've acquired posh stuff now, be prepared to fling a cover over it every time it rains!

Well I think it's posh stuff, I got it from Ebay. Oh dear.

OK, so all you oilers, what oil do you recommend?

And also, a mate of mine said once you start oiling, you have to do it every year, you can't decide not to anymore. Is he right?

come on posh people with real teak, tell me your tips!

,

bump

We bought a teak swing seat 2 years ago, and did nothing to it so it turned greyish brown. This spring, I sanded it down and painted with cuprinol teak restorer, then sprayed with cuprinol teak protector, and it's gone back to its nice golden brown colour. Bit of a faff, but probably worth it. According to the company I bought it from, it doesn't need oiling as such, but will change colour without it.