teak handrail question

guglielmo6160 · Post by **guglielmo6160** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 9:01 pm

hey, whats the poplular cleanning agent you guys use on your teak, I have what look like, used to be beautiful handrails on top of my railings, and would really like them to look nice,
I know alot of you use oils, but I would like to clean em first
any thoughts??

Rich Schwochow · Post by **Rich Schwochow** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 9:27 pm

I use almost any brand of teak cleaner first, then follow it up with teak brightener. Since at one time I had a Trojan with teak decks from bow to stern that I only used oil on, I finally got tired of the short life span of it all. It looked like a piece of furniture when freshly done, but I had to re-do it 2 or 3 times a season. With my 78 F-32 I use Sikens on the rails, and platform. It retains its color and just needs to be kept clean. I also use a maintenance coat every season or two. Over the years, I've tried to cut down on the maintenance of the teak so I have replaced the deck hatch frames,step pads, and deck water run off deflectors with black plastic. It is much easier to maintain and always looks great. Many of my fellow Trojan owners have also followed and are glad they did. Rich.

jddens · Post by **jddens** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 10:36 pm

I use tide powered laundry soap mix with water to make a thin paste....and a stiff brush. Worked fantastic on my swim step. Had to lightly sand the hand rails first then oiled. Going forward the tide mixture should work good on the hand rails as well. I clean and oil twice a year...........John

jddens · Post by **jddens** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 10:37 pm

forgot to mention....use tide powdered soap with bleach.........

oldsun · Post by **oldsun** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 12:49 am

See my reply to the Black Spots thread, I elaborated on the use of TSP.

Scott

randyp · Post by **randyp** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:09 am

I agree about the Sikens. They may a new finish called Natural Teak, I think. Really nice finish once you get the teak cleaned (I like the Tide/bleach idea). Refinished all the cockpit teak trim, door and door hatch this summer with the new Sikens and it really came out nice. It's a semi-gloss so if you want "glass" you can recoat with gloss varnish afterwards. I did the same for the teak swim platform and again it came out terrific and held up all summer long. I had to add non-slip filler to the last coat on the platform though.