Treatment for Iroko

[wayneA]

I have just replaced/refurbished my cockpit seats and hatch frames with Iroko. My cockpit capping, grate and rubbing strips are a loverly silvered teak.

Question is, can I leave iroko as I would teak or do I HAVE TO treat it with oil, varnish, etc? Will Iroko go grey/silver like Teak?

TIA

Wayne

<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1>Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.</font size=1>

 

[tillergirl]

Iroko will grey off like teak but so will every other wood as it gets bleached by the sun. I would not leave it bare personally. Iroko is not as stable as teak nor as resistant to rot etc. The grain is a bit wild and I would think you would not be happy with the result. I have not heard of oiling iroko although it is an oily wood (though not as much as teak) but you might care to see the comment on the Teak question on the YM forum about the use of oil.

Personally I have got in the habit with new iroko of sealing it with Blakes' Woodsealer and then building up six or so coats of varnish. I'm impressed with Blakes' 2 pot polyvarnish for its resistance to wear but it can only really go on surfaces that don't flex and cannot be put over single pot varnish. Having said I use Blakes, there is a problem with their woodsealer in that unless you have cleaned up the edges of the tin and lid perfectly, the lid will seal itself to the tin and as the tins are made as thin as possible, the next time you open it lid or tin get destroyed. I decant what's left in a new jamjar with great regularity. You don't have to use woodsealer; thin down the first (and if you like 2nd) coats to get good adhesion. You need to clean the surface of the iroko before the first coat to get rid of any oil from the wood on the surface.

Good luck

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[Anchorite]

6 coats of varnish on cockpit seats??? Are they not as slippery as er an eel?
And what finish for iroko decks that preserves the natural antislip?

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[tillergirl]

One coat of varnish is nearly as slippery as six - admittedly the surface gets better the more coats you put on. If slipping is going to be an issue there are ways of dealing with that but the point is that one or two coats of varnish are going to be pretty naff at the end of a busy season and all the hard preparation work will have to be redone.

Iroko decks? Who was talking about those? I certainly would not varnish a deck unless it had some grit in it - which kind of defeats the purpose of the varnish? Anyway who is laying iroko decks? I don't know anything that preserves the natural finish of the wood. Best to leave it bare, but I wouldn't leave iroko bare so I wouldn't use it for a deck.

<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by tillergirl on 28/04/2003 22:43 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Captain Coochie]

A quick rub down and one coat of oil will help the timber and soak in very fast
pure linseed oil is the best,all the others are linseed based
leaving timber bare is asking for trouble in my opinion
it might give good grip but wont last as long
the grip is the cambium layer while the sapwood dies
(omg carpentry has taken over my life , i need a girlfriend and fast)


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[tcm]

Good posts below.

I have an iroko teak deck at home in the garden. About 200 sq yards of the stuff. I would most certainly not oil the whole thing, but the small parts I have done look great, and as ruthrt says it has a wilder grain so looks excellent. You don't need enought oil to make it a seething mess, just several layers of wipeover. The wood does grey badly, but the proprietary two-part cleaners as for teak are just the job. I think the iroko wood is harder such that it doesn't ridge as badly as teak. But otherwise, once the wood has seasoned (and some of mine warped before fitting!) you don't HAVE to oil, and the wood seems fine after several years.

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[Plum]

You can leave Iroko bare and it will go grey in the sunlight and it will have a very long life. Iroko is very nearly as durable as Teak.

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[wayneA]

Many Thanks all, for the good advice.

Many Thanks all, for the good advice.

A nice split down the middle between treat or leave and good arguments, well put, by both houses.

I think I'm going to leave it and see what happens. I've had some horrible results with treating the teak so have now let that go silver grey, which is an asthetic I like.

If it all falls apart in a rotten heap next season, I will report back to the forum (so tillergirl can say 'I told you so') - I might even get an article in PBO ;-)

Once again many thanks all

Wayne

<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1>Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.</font size=1>

 

[tillergirl]

Re: Many Thanks all, for the good advice.

We can do a comparative study. I've just replaced one of the four cockpit lockers after the original 1964 lid on one split. I have a woodseal/varnish finish on it. Perhaps we should compare notes each year for the next x years. Of course, I'll be varnishing each year whereas you will be in the pub!

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[yachtorion]

So how did the treat vs not treat iroko thing work out?

I ask because I'm about to install some and would love to know!

 

[reeac]

I replaced my tender's gunwhales with iroko ones about 5 years ago and left them untreated. They've gone a very satisfactory silver colour with no signs of deterioration.

 

[30boat]

I replaced my tender's gunwhales with iroko ones about 5 years ago and left them untreated. They've gone a very satisfactory silver colour with no signs of deterioration.

I have replaced some of my Fulmars toerails (there are three lengths per side)with Iroko in 2010.I can't tell the difference from the teak ones now.