subject: Teak Furniture And Its Maintenance [print this page] Teak Furniture And Its Maintenance Teak Furniture And Its Maintenance
It is known to many that teak does not require oil or other preservative for protection and it will not also help in extending its life. But if you want to keep the original color of the teak furniture rather than letting it age to its silvery-gray patina then you need to use some products to help maintain its color. To clean your dirty or stained teak you can use a cleaner to remove all the grease and dirt that has accumulated on the wood's surface. Most of the time together with the cleaner you can use a teak protector to penetrate deep into the wood. It will help dissolve any dirt and grease left. It also helps in restoring the original color of your teak furniture.
Teak does not need special maintenance aside from cleaning it occasionally. If your outdoor teak furniture is left to age outside the wood surface will slowly change into its silvery-gray because the pigment fade. If you want to maintain its silver patina color you can gently clean it using soft soap flakes instead of detergent dissolved in warm water. Make sure that you will be using a sponge or soft brush when cleaning. Steel wool or steel brush is not recommended. Then rinse your teak outdoor furniture with low pressure water to eliminate any dirt and the remaining soap solution.
In the furniture industry today, teak is considered as the most attractive, high-quality type of wood. It is straight-grained, very dense hardwood with coarse texture, has distinct aromatic smell and has high content of natural oil. It is popularly known because of its resistance to rot and durability, teak is very impervious to sunlight, snow, frost and rain. Due to its high level of resinous oil it is known to have a natural insect repellent, which makes it very resistance to termites. Because of its hard wearing nature, teak has been used in shipbuilding for many years now. It is commonly used in many outdoor furniture. Because of its popularity there are some wood furniture being marketed as a teak substitute since original teak furniture is very expensive. The look of these substitutes may somewhat identical to teak but the quality and durability of teak is unequalled.
Its weathering capacity is one of the popular trait of teak wood. As the teak furniture comes to age it will retain its silvery gray patina. Most of the time it will take place after nine months depending on the quantity of rain and sunlight exposure. In weathering process, a slight lifting of the grain may take place on the upper part of the arms and legs and you can see some cracks. It is not a defect but the natural contracting and expanding of the wood. Once the weathering process is completed it will return to its normal smooth finish.
