Applying Teak Oil: Tips for the Best Job

Applying Teak Oil: Is It Necessary?

We are often asked if applying teak oil is necessary to maintain outdoor teak furniture.  We have addressed this question in several previous posts.  Therefore, you may want to review Teak Oil: When to use on Outdoor Teak  and Maintaining your Outdoor Teak Furniture.

Once you understand that applying teak oil to your outdoor furniture is mostly cosmetic (assuming you start with the best raw materials) and will not affect the life of the product, you can decide if applying teak oil is for you.

Tips for Proper Application

If you decide to move forward with oiling your teak, here are a few tips:

• Choose a brand of teak oil with no pigment. Some brands add pigments which can change the
  

  Freshly applied teak oil on teak chair and table

  appearance of the teak furniture and cause it to lose the natural look.

• Make sure the surface of your furniture is clean and smooth. Check out our other blogs on cleaning if you are unsure on how to accomplish this.
• Test your oil on the underside or other hidden area of your furniture to make sure you like the way it looks.
• Apply the oil with a rag or brush made for oil based products
• Make sure you apply the oil consistently on the whole surface of your teak furniture. Take your time and make sure there are no extra heavy spots or thin spots.  This may not look obvious at first.  But, the parts with too much or too little oil will weather differently.

Inconsistent application of teak oil can cause the furniture to weather unevenly

Apply Carefully

So, careful application should ensure consistent weathering and appearance of the furniture.  However, customers who are not familiar with staining or painting wood may find this difficult.  If you notice uneven weathering of your outdoor furniture, you should clean and lightly sand the piece and reapply the teak oil.

Also, if you decide to oil your teak, be prepared to reapply the oil every six to twelve months, depending on the climate and the amount of exposure to the elements the furniture gets.

Most importantly, go out and enjoy your outdoor spaces!

Read our other blogs and visit our teak furniture website to learn why teak from Thailand is the best. You will discover that all teak furniture is not created equally.

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