Sanding teak

Whitelighter

Whitelighter

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Any major do's or dont's?

Teak needs some work in the cockpit to make it smooth, the standard clean with Wessex won't do.
So can I just sand it with a gentle electric sander? Do I sand the caulking at the same time or do I need to deal with this first?
 
If the caulking is raised then it's probably easier to pare it down first with a chisel or Stanley blade. Then I'd probably go for a DA sander to knock everything flat again. Try different grits but I wouldn't start too coarse since you'll just have to keep sanding the marks out as you go down the grades.
 
Just sand it. The caulking should sand down with the teak. Go easy - perhaps with 180 or 240 grit to start to get a feel for how little you can get away with.
 
I will probably get flamed for this but this is what I did this year.
This is JW's 9th season and the teak was getting rough under foot.

I read one of NickH's posts where he said that you can strip the black caulking off easily.
So, using a very sharp chisel (I used a 1" wide chisel) I stripped the black caulking down to level with the teak.
Then sanded using a good quality random orbital sander and 60 grit disks.
If you sand hard enough, it will look like new but I wasn't too aggressive.
You need a good vacuum cleaner and someone to hoover up as you go along - otherwise the dust goes everywhere.
I finished off with a Wessex clean.
(BTW - over the years, I've refined my Wessex technique - These days, pre-wet the deck - then I dilute the Wessex cleaner in a bucket and wash the deck by dipping a soft broom into the bucket and then washing the teak with the broom.
The result after the sanding and washing is a smooth finish when walking over it in bare feet.
Really pleased with it.
 
probably not the right person to answer, but when I built the panels for my heads (10-12mm teak epoxied on ply and then TDS on the caulking) after doing it all, I sanded with 80grit with a normal 125mm dia orbital sander (medium speed) in order to get a smooth result and get the caulking down to the teak level. It worked, didn't need a lot of pressure, but took an awful lot of time for relatively small surfaces...
I feel that if you go much smoother than 120grit you wont do much regarding mainly the caulking and you'll have it sitting proud of the teak. That's my gut feeling, haven't tried it yet.

However, haven't got a clue how much "meat" is there in your teak panels, although being an oldish boat I'd expect to have decent thickness!

cheers

V.
 
Tranona said:
Just sand it. The caulking should sand down with the teak. Go easy - perhaps with 180 or 240 grit to start to get a feel for how little you can get away with.
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In my experience, the caulking is much harder and it takes forever if you do as you say - much better to take the caulking off first with a chisel like Woodlouse says.

Stripping caulking is quite therapeutic.
With a sharp chisel, you can take whole lengths of caulking off single sweeps.
A chisel also brings the edge of the teak close to the caulking down to the same level as the rest of the teak.
 
How does caulking become higher than the teak as i thought when you put the caulk in ,u then leveled it with a flat blade let it set then sand all the caulk and teak level ,or am i wrong
 
Hurricane said:
In my experience, the caulking is much harder and it takes forever if you do as you say - much better to take the caulking off first with a chisel like Woodlouse says.

Stripping caulking is quite therapeutic.
With a sharp chisel, you can take whole lengths of caulking off single sweeps.
A chisel also brings the edge of the teak close to the caulking down to the same level as the rest of the teak.
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Agreed. The caulk is very flexible, so it seems to move with the grit of the sandpaper rather than being removed by it. I think it's quicker and easier to remove the excess caulk with a chisel first, and as H says, it's quite satisfying removing long lines of black rubber in one go :D. Make sure the chisel is super-sharp
 
I re-laid my teak deck.

Using a reasonable quality random orbital sander & 80 grit I sanded the whole lot, caulking (TDS) and all - easy.

However, I did have a dust extraction hose on the sander (i.e. a Henry) - this made a world of difference and stopped caulking 'dust' from 'scrumbling' (I just made that word up but it seems descriptive) underneath the sandpaper making it much less effective.

Edit: Oh yes, forgot to add - light touch only on the sander, don't lean on it, let the machine do the work.

Just my 2p worth.
 
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I gave mine a light sanding with a Ryobi orbital. No issue with caulk. Teak dust is the biggest issue, but I vacuumed this after the sanding. I used a mask to restrict the amount of dust I breathed in.
 
rafiki_ said:
I gave mine a light sanding with a Ryobi orbital. No issue with caulk. Teak dust is the biggest issue, but I vacuumed this after the sanding. I used a mask to restrict the amount of dust I breathed in.
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A few years ago I relayed the teak on my boat myself... Orbital sander is the way to go, belt sander is a no you will get too many grooves in it...

Use the back of the chisel, unless you want big gouges.
 
I use a Stanley blade scraper to trim the caulking and then a DA sander for the Teak. Anything finer than 120 grit and you'll be there all day. Plenty of YouTube videos for the process if you have a look.
 
I might take on sanding the decking when I clean and Semco in the next few weekend visits. Is there any merit in wetting the teak prior to sanding it in order to "raise" the grain, like I remember from my old school wood working days ? would it help to accentuate any high grain that you can sand out and then it will be a flatter/smoother/more dense surface once dry ?

Anyone done that or do we think there's no point ?
 
Jez, not much to add to what has already been said.
Fwiw, I'm also in the "cut caulking before, then sand" camp, but eventually I think you can make it work either way.
Just curious though, do you know if the teak in your boat is still the original one, or has been redone at some stage?
If the first, and if you still have enough caulk thickness to withstand a resanding, thet's indeed a testament to build quality of 20+ years ago...! :encouragement:
 
Andrew M said:
I might take on sanding the decking when I clean and Semco in the next few weekend visits. Is there any merit in wetting the teak prior to sanding it in order to "raise" the grain, like I remember from my old school wood working days ? would it help to accentuate any high grain that you can sand out and then it will be a flatter/smoother/more dense surface once dry ?

Anyone done that or do we think there's no point ?
Click to expand...
No point. Sanding wet wood will clog up the sand paper and the power sander in seconds.
 
Woodlouse said:
No point. Sanding wet wood will clog up the sand paper and the power sander in seconds.
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You can wet it with a damp cloth and then waft a hot air gun over it to raise the grain but that could take a while depending on how much teak you have. The alternative is to gently pressure wash the whole area on the basis that you'll be sanding it after. Obviously you don't do this normally as it opens up the wood fibres. It will need to dry thoroughly afterwards before sanding.
 
only one person to mention a mask ?

Teak (together with oak, beech, and some other woods inc cedar) is a very nasty timber to sand, causing dermatitis, respiratory probs, and nasal cancers. It also causes allergy problems to the extent that you can't touch teak because you become sensitised to it.

Ventilation is the key, inc a proper sawdust extractor if indoors. Mask to FFP3 standard.


It's a final warning offence in the sawmill to be there with running machinery, and without a mask. Instructions to both operators that they must immediately stop work if someone is in the building without a mask.


OK, now flame me !
 
Andrew M said:
I might take on sanding the decking when I clean and Semco in the next few weekend visits.
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Not exactly sure what you meant but 'Semco' will come off with Part 1 Wessex chemicals teak cleaner.

Sanding is generally a last resort, so only if you have to!

RR

Jez, yours probably is solid teak and not vaneered so fair play! :cool:
 
Do you have any photos of the surface ?

A small area might be better scraped flat, but this would be tough work on more than a sq metre or so.

Whatever method Semco afterwards is highly recommended.
 
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