Oxalic Acid How Strong Can I Go

[mikesyam]

Last year my local chandlers told my pal how to apply Deks Olje No1 to the deck on my cockpit floor and gave him the wrong advice, he told him just to flood it and not allow it to soak in, he spent ages putting more and more on and days later it had still not dried, anyway it eventually dried to a cracked skin appearance and looks terrible, anyway putting the boat up for sale and need to get the teak back to normal and hoped that some Oxalic Acid would have done the trick but tried it today and it made no difference, I mixed it at 4 table spoons to a pint of water and left it for twenty minutes before rinsing so question is huw stong a mix can I go or is there a better method of cleaning it.

Thanks Mike

 

[Cloven]

Sounds like a job for Nitromors!!

 

[VicS]

You can use oxalic saturated but I do not think it will remove the Deks Olje.

2-4 tablespoonful per pint is the concentration recommended by AG Woodcare for restoring the appearance of wood but I think you will need a paint stripper to remove the Deks Olje,

 

[Woodlouse]

Best to scrape anything off that'll come off then oxalic acid the bare wood after. Best to go as concentrated as possible with the acid, but keep it away from any anodised aluminium.

 

[Humblebee]

Oxali acid

I've just bought some, the label suggests 3 level teaspoons to 100ml hot water for use as teak cleaner. Alternatively, 150grammes per litre of water for use as a general boat cleaner.

 

[markdj]

Use a sander and remove the excess until the wood looks smooth then apply Starbrite Tropical Teak Oil Sealer (it looks like brown paint but gives the wood an even colour).

 

[RobBrown]

I agree that something other than oxalic acid might be required in this case. However in general to make the strongest Oxalic acid solution, I just added the powder to a fixed volume of hot water whilst mixing until I could not make the solution take up any more cystals, ie it started to precipitate out, whilst keeping the temp of the water up.

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

this is not what Oxalic acid is meant to do when it is sold by teak restorers etc..

It will clean stains from teak and get rid of green growth and rust but not Deks olje No.1.

Either a sander, cabinet scraper or stripper I reckon ..... get in touch with the makers of Deks....

best of luck

S.

 

[Marine Reflections]

oxalic acid how strong can I go?

Another vote for a stripper of some sort... wa hey!

Oxalic as mentioned above is more for taking out stains etc

Best just to test a small area and see if it takes it down to the grain.

It's really the only method of really getting the wood back and by far with the least effort.

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

The one thought I have regarding strippers is that they can get onto areas you wish it hadn't, so if you try it, find out as Marine Reflections suggests on a small test area first and you may be wise to mask up with tape the areas you want to keep protected. However, strippers may dissolve or get under tape too.

The other thought is that teak is a very soft hardwood so if you do sand the finish back, go very careful you then don't sand too much timber away.

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

Sounds like a job for Nitromors!!

do you remember the time when Nitromors would strip anthing? It's going back a while so you may be too young but seeing your personal info you may remember??

The 'Green' people have stopped them using the same recipe, probably with some justification and the present stuff, although reasonable, is not a patch on the old stuff.

 

[Marine Reflections]

Oxalic acid how strong can I go

do you remember the time when Nitromors would strip anthing? It's going back a while so you may be too young??

The 'Green' people have stopped them using the same recipe, probably with some justification and the present stuff, although reasonable, is not a patch on the old stuff.

So true!
My previous career was in antique restoration, we used to have competitions how long we could stand a healty blob of Mylands stripper x on the back of our hands (dont ask why) complete madness.. I think the record was around 20 seconds before pouring on some meths, could probably wash under my arms in it these days. (joke..... note advisable)