oil/diesel on teak

[reginaldvanacker]

Hi all, the mechanic who serviced my engine, did a good job on it, but on the other hand made a mess of my cockpit, the teak decking of the seats in the cockpit is
stained with oil and or diesel.
Is there anyway to get this cleaned?
Thanks

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[pugwash]

Oxalic acid which you can buy from a chemist and mix up into a saturated solution in a bucket seems to take off everything. Wear rubber gloves and be careful, however. It also bleaches the teak, removing the grey and returning it to that lovely reddish golden colour, and removes any mildew and green stuff. Haven't tried it on engine oil specifically but my cockpit had bits of everything including salad oil and diesel, and now it's beautiful.

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[reginaldvanacker]

thank you pugwash, definatly going to give it a go, will let you know how it works out!

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[Paragon]

Any idea if it works on Treadmaster too? I'm thinking rust stains on Treasmaster specifically, if no then any other cleaning wonders known?

Many thanks

Regards

John

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[pugwash]

No experience I'm afraid. But there has been an awful lot about oxalic acid posted during the last year or two so try doing a search and see what you find.

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[pheran]

Just bought a large tin of Oxalic Acid and intend to give my deck a good going over. What dilution rate did you use and how long should the solution be left on before washing off?

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[pugwash]

A Scuttlebutt poster advised four parts water to one of powder and I used warm water to help it dissolve. This worked well. I used a pot-scourer to rub the teak and washed off the solution with fresh water after ten minutes or so. There have been a lot of posts about this in the last year or two so i suggest you do a search. Many posters are a lot more expert than I am. One word of warning. I was kneeling on the deck and got my jeans soaked. Had to drive home with my pants feeling as if they were full of nettles. Not much fun. Even though I wore rubber gloves and thought I was being careful, my copper arthritis bracelet has never looked so shiny!

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[StephenW]

I also bought some & diluted 2 Oz to 1 pint (as recommended in another posting), then added (lots of) wallpaper paste to make it a bit stickier if applying to the hull to remove water/oil staining at boot topping level.

Be careful of your eyes when mixing powder - it can be nasty stuff

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[pheran]

Many thanks guys. Now I have 2oz/pint, 25gms/500ml, 15% and 4 tablespoons/jam jar. All I have to do is work out whether they all end up the same! /forums/images/icons/smile.gif Seriously, would flour do instead of wallpaper paste for thickening? And can I apply this mixture to a painted surface, not GRP?

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=blue>A convert to steel boats and displacement cruising - the only way to go</font color=blue>