Interior teak advice please

Nikia

Nikia

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"Nikia" is a Tayana 37 with the whole interior fitted out in solid teak, yes lovely.
However, the old girl is going to be 40yo this year and the interior teak is in serious need of a major clean up.
It's all very dark due to dirt accumulated over many years (before I acquired her), and looks to have been waxed at some stage, which has also attracted and absorbed dirt.

I want to take the wood back to original bare state and then coat with Danish oil.

What do you recommend, baring in mind its internal so cant rinse too liberally with water, and also I need to treat the beams across the cabin ceiling, which will mean "stuff" dripping on me!
I was thinking of using oxalic acid, but wonder if it would be safe to use as described, and how much rinsing would it need?
I test-cleaned the inside of a locker door using some stuff I had from the chandlers, but I won't be using that, as litre for litre it would be cheaper to use a decent single malt !!!!

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Brian
 
Expect you are going to need a bit of experimentation to see what works, and it may not be the same on every area. There are three main methods. Chemical, physical scraping/sanding and heat. as you don't know what you are actually removing probably best to start with a paint stripper and scraper in an inconspicuous place, but you may find a heat gun and scraper more effective. The idea is to remove any previous oil or varnish from the surface then you can use abrasive paper to clean the surface of the wood. Then is the time to consider oxalid acid to deal with any stains and discolouration.

If you do manage to get it all back to a good and consistent colour then suggest you use Osmo TopOil to recoat it. Takes longer to apply the necessary 3-4 coats but gives a superior, durable finish.

Good luck, and hope you have plenty of spare time to do the job!
 
Oxalic acid is a powerful bleach, so not really for removing dirt, but good if you have any stained wood. As you say it's mainly ingrained dirt on old wax I would suggest starting with something like sugar soap and a scouring pad. Only if that fails head for more aggressive cleaners. If it's not been varnished there's no need for strippers.

However you do it you'll need plenty of elbow grease, but we'll worth it in the end.
 
I agree the oxalic acid is for treating discoloured areas but it will bleach the spot treated and leave it different to its surroundings so you may have to treat the entire panel to achieve homogeneity. As for the initial treatment careful use of a scraper to remove the varnish and wax. round the corners to prevent any possibility of digging in and producing gouge marks, I would not use heat as you will probably end up scorching and discolouring areas. Chemical treatment is a possibility with Nitromores but it isn't as good as it used to be. Once you have got it down to bare wood a very light sanding with no harsher than 600 grit paper or wire wool followed by a wipe down to remove all dust vacuum out the entire boat, then wipe again and use a matt or clear varnish applied diluted for the first couple of coats then one or two additional coats with a very light sanding in between. Most boats and internal areas are matt finished but if you have white painted areas as in a traditional boat then gloss is good.
Be prepared for a lot of work and a LOT of sanding to get good results and be paranoid about dust when it comes to the varnishing. Epifans is very good varnish.
 
Are you absolutely committed to going to bare wood? If not, you could try first a wax and polish remover on ultrafine steel wool (see http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?407046-Rejuvenating-wood&highlight=Rejuvenating+wood).

It’s hard work, and the stuff is in ‘single malt’ territory – but it is simply cleaned off with a rag, so no washing. If it is not satisfactory you can always step up, but stripping commits you.

Some may worry about even ultrafine steel wool leaving particles to rust. I have not had to use the method on the boat, but with a lot of wax to remove some will be left (there was quite a shine on that piece in my photos at that link, just from unremoved polish) so I doubt much steel would penetrate into the wood. But if that is a concern, you could try a plastic scourer if compatible with the remover.

If you have tried a remover and are now committed to bare wood, my apologies. But if you have not, I’d think about it (or even sugar soap for cost, though that would need washing off).
 
Hydrozoan said:
Are you absolutely committed to going to bare wood? If not, you could try first a wax and polish remover on ultrafine steel wool (see http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?407046-Rejuvenating-wood&highlight=Rejuvenating+wood).

It’s hard work, and the stuff is in ‘single malt’ territory – but it is simply cleaned off with a rag, so no washing. If it is not satisfactory you can always step up, but stripping commits you.

Some may worry about even ultrafine steel wool leaving particles to rust. I have not had to use the method on the boat, but with a lot of wax to remove some will be left (there was quite a shine on that piece in my photos at that link, just from unremoved polish) so I doubt much steel would penetrate into the wood. But if that is a concern, you could try a plastic scourer if compatible with the remover.

If you have tried a remover and are now committed to bare wood, my apologies. But if you have not, I’d think about it (or even sugar soap for cost, though that would need washing off).
Click to expand...

French polishers always have very fine steel wool, so no worries there. A good polish & wax remover is methylated spirit along with the fine steel wool. I learned this in an upmarket furniture restorers workshop.
 
Steel wool may not be a problem with the wood panel itself but I know from experience that the tiny rusting fragments will fall over a wide area and produce many tiny brown spots deep into any light coloured surface. Fine if that's the floor of a furniture restorer but a complete pig on a boat.
 
I believe that the wax and polish removers, like most other such materials including strippers, now have less effective – but less potentially harmful – formulations. I take the point about steel fragments, but there are ways to avoid or contain those in what is going to be a messy job, one way or another.
 
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