Old teak furniture

[awharbutt]

Hi Guys
I'm looking for a piece of teak to mount an electric windless on (covering up loads of old holes etc) has anyone experience of using old bits of teak furniture for this? seems quite easy to buy an old sideboard etc and re use it rather than find a large slab of marine teak.

This is my first time on here so please be gentle with me!

 

[VicS]

Hi Guys
I'm looking for a piece of teak

my teak furniture is just veneered particle board

I did once get hold of some old laboratory bench top ................... but you have to be in the right place at the right time

If your profile included some indication of your location maybe someone would have a suitable piece they could let you have.

 

[PabloPicasso]

I've found teak doors in skips. Two last week. Fact. Asked the skips owner if I could have the doors and they've alwYs said ok. Smashed the glass out with a hammer into the skip and I've been. Left with the door frame. More or less lengths of 2x4 in solid teak.

Teak was widely used. Until the 1980s when supplies dryer up. Now non boaty people often throw put teak items as they are unfashionable.

Go reclaim, reuse, and don't take particle board with veneer. It is not hard to tell the difference

 

[ashtead]

Find some off cuts from a plumber or kitchen fitter from where the sink went in on a wooden top ? These make great chopping boards and if you know any builders I am sure they might have some pieces they have liberated from clients kitchens which would be of use ? It might not be teak but many other solid wood tops out there . I once obtained an off cut to make an outboard bracket for rail on centaur which lasted many years from a wood merchants on IOW so might be a source ?

 

[Fantasie 19]

One of the other forumites is selling bits??

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?456471-Pieces-of-old-teak

 

[jwilson]

One of the other forumites is selling bits??

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?456471-Pieces-of-old-teak

Probably perfectly good but not proper "old teak" - I once in the 1970s scrounged a largish chunk of a 2" thick chemistry bench from a demolished 60+ year old college building. The top looked awful with burn and ring stains but about a millimeter or so under the surface was perfect, golden, hard as hell and very heavy - chunks barely floated. No comparison with the bit of soft modern plantation teak I bought last year at some expense.

 

[garvellachs]

Probably perfectly good but not proper "old teak" - I once in the 1970s scrounged a largish chunk of a 2" thick chemistry bench from a demolished 60+ year old college building. The top looked awful with burn and ring stains but about a millimeter or so under the surface was perfect, golden, hard as hell and very heavy - chunks barely floated. No comparison with the bit of soft modern plantation teak I bought last year at some expense.

I'm not sure how you know the age of the teak I'm selling? 25 yrs in our garden, maybe 25 yrs in the last; so how old is "old" and what makes it proper or not?

 

[PetiteFleur]

Whereabouts are you? I have some offcuts of 1930's lab teak bench tops from a university - I was tipped off about them from a friend who worked there - complete lab worktops, albeit with sink holes, had to make two trips with a roof rack, made teak worktops for my kitchen at home. What size do you want and I'll have a look - I couldn't bear to throw away the bits left over so are in my shed somewhere and also made several useful parts on my boat.

 

[Amulet]

Been done the path of buying teak furniture for the wood. Not a success. Most bits were teak veneered man made boards with some solid bits round the edges. Makes sense in truth for furniture, but doesn't yield useful bits of teak. The person who sold the stuff to me swore they were solid teak. She'd fled the country when I found out otherwise.

 

[jwilson]

I'm not sure how you know the age of the teak I'm selling? 25 yrs in our garden, maybe 25 yrs in the last; so how old is "old" and what makes it proper or not?

If it is 50 years old it might be quite good, but pre-WW2 boats were usually built of much better timber than anything afterwards.. The chemistry bench piece I had was from about 1900, and over 2 ft wide, nearly 2 inches thick, not glue-jointed, just a bit of one tree.

 

[ChrisRayner]

Iroko is fairly widely available. It is not as pretty as teak, and it lacks the scent, but to go between a windlass and a deck it should serve as well. True, it has rather wild grain, and is prone to warping, but with the windlass, the deck, and the bolts this should not be a problem. It will last well exposed to the elements.

 

[PhillM]

I got some decent 40+ years mahogany from these guys:

http://www.roofingandsalvagedepot.co.uk

They often put stuff on eBay too. But worth a call and they will keep and eye out for what you want and call when they find it. Very helpful company. No connection, just satisfied customer, etc.

 

[Hadenough]

Get a Trespa offcut, pig to cut but workable with a router, stronger than teak and you will never have to touch it again.

 

[Hadenough]

Iroko is fairly widely available. It is not as pretty as teak, and it lacks the scent, but to go between a windlass and a deck it should serve as well. True, it has rather wild grain, and is prone to warping, but with the windlass, the deck, and the bolts this should not be a problem. It will last well exposed to the elements.

How often do you sniff under your windlass?

 

[sailorman]

Hi Guys
I'm looking for a piece of teak to mount an electric windless on (covering up loads of old holes etc) has anyone experience of using old bits of teak furniture for this? seems quite easy to buy an old sideboard etc and re use it rather than find a large slab of marine teak.

This is my first time on here so please be gentle with me!

Marine teak ??????

 

[Amulet]

Iroko is fairly widely available. It is not as pretty as teak, and it lacks the scent, but to go between a windlass and a deck it should serve as well. True, it has rather wild grain, and is prone to warping, but with the windlass, the deck, and the bolts this should not be a problem. It will last well exposed to the elements.

As far as I'm concerned Iroko is a fine teak substitute if someone else is doing the work. The dust from working it is aggressive and vile - at least to my sensitive mucous membranes. Maybe I'm unusual.

 

[chinita]

I'm not sure how you know the age of the teak I'm selling? 25 yrs in our garden, maybe 25 yrs in the last; so how old is "old" and what makes it proper or not?

What makes it proper is the result after sanding - which is why I bought it!

 

[chinita]

If it is 50 years old it might be quite good, but pre-WW2 boats were usually built of much better timber than anything afterwards.

Unless they were built in Hong Kong in 1963, like mine

 

[PabloPicasso]

Unless they were built in Hong Kong in 1963, like mine

So the teak doors I've scrounged from skips were good finds. Lots of useable timber in the frames. I've found 6 or 8 now.

 

[ChrisRayner]

The teaky fragrance dissipates quite soon in wood exposed to the elements. It is a more or less attractive accompaniment to working the wood, and a reliable guide to the nature of otherwise unidentified timber.