Refurbishing Teak Furniture and Restoring Its Luster

If you are looking for beautiful and resilient outdoor furniture, then you should consider patio furniture made out of teak-wood. It is a durable lustrous wood that brings a classic design element to outdoor furniture. The natural color of the wood is a honey color, and over time as it is exposed to the elements, the honey glow of the wood turns to a silvery gray. While some people actually prefer the gray color to the honey color of the wood, if you find that all of your furniture has aged a little more than you had planned, you can return it to its lustrous honey glow in just a few easy steps.

• Clean It First

First, make sure that the wood is clean by using a mild detergent and water. Scrub the furniture with a soft, bristle brush, and you will the gray patina begin to slough off. If you have older furniture that has been neglected for quite some time, it may take a little more work to turn back the hands of time. Start with a very find grade of sandpaper and sand away the tiniest amount of the wood's top layer. You do want to take care not to be overzealous in your sanding duties. Simply sand a little at a time, because you can always sand a little more; but if you start out too aggressively, you will wish that you could put some of the layers of wood back.

• Treat with Teak Oil

Once the wood is cleaned and sanded and the gray patina is long gone, you can rub teak oil into the wood to restore its honey luster and shine. The wood's appearance will appear brighter. Remember that while teak oil will make your furniture look fantastic, but it does not protect the wood from the elements. So once you have all of your furniture rubbed with teak oil, you will want to look into ways to protect the wood from the elements.

• Teak-wood Maintenance 

 While there are several ways to protect your newly oiled teak-wood furniture, none of them are earth-shattering ideas, but they are all effective. The first suggestion to keep the natural beauty of the wood glowing is to protect the piece of furniture from the elements as much as possible. You can buy waterproof covers for their furniture when it is not in use, and these covers also offer UV protection as well. Another way to protect it from the elements is to bring it inside during the harsh, winter months. When you are bringing your teak-wood furniture indoors for the winter, make sure to bring it in before the weather turns really cold, so that the furniture is not suffering an abrupt temperature change which could cause splitting in the wood. If your furniture is still outside, and the cold weather has already sneaked in for the season, you can still move your furniture inside for the winter, but make sure that you warm it up gradually. So first move it to your garage to let it acclimate, and then you can move it into the house to store. Or, you may just decide that the garage is the perfect spot for the furniture to spend the long, cold winter.