Cleaning unloved teak hand rails for varnishing

[chris-s]

The teak handrails on our Pegasus have not been shown much love prior to us owning it, but they are now at home in the workshop to be varnished. Because of the lack of love, half the varnish is missing and the teak has done what teak does when it ages, turns grey (almost white in places).

The old varnish can easily be removed, but what about restoring the color in the aged areas ? Other than sanding it all back, is there a less destructive way to clean it up before breaking out the varnish?

Chris

 

[sailorman]

personally i would sand them, the discolour is unlikely to be deep, then just leave then to weather a nice natural light grey.
I use patio magic on my teak & occasionally use teak cleaner

 

[john_morris_uk]

Semco (other two part cleaners available). Use a scotch pad to lift the dirt and restore them. Far less brutal than sanding. Do it twice if necessary and they’ll come up like new. Then either leave to weather or varnish them as is your wont.

 

[ctva]

As above. We use nothing but salt water to clean with a brush across the grain, never with it. Boracol is good for getting rid of the algae. Looking at your pic, a light sand will do wonders.

Never use oil or varnish as teak is best left open with oil attracting dirt.

 

[Neil_Y]

Unvarnished teak gives better grip when wet than shinny varnish.

Very gentle sanding and cleaning would be my approach.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

They don't look like the silvering is too deep so strip the varnish then a light sand should be enough. Mine had a few patches which had been exposed for a while so I ended up with a few low spots rather than take off too much material. In my opinion varnished looks much nicer than silvered for both hand rails and capping rails
]

 

[TernVI]

There's a few boats around where the teak has weathered over a few decades and I start to wonder if the handrails are still strong enough.

 

[PetiteFleur]

Once you've varnished them, make acrylic canvas covers for them so you don't have to re-varnish them every year or so. My handrails have lasted 10yrs before I had to varnish them again. Made larger and secured with velcro in the hand areas.