Quote:
| Originally Posted by Capt. Bill11 Here's my home made two part teak cleaner recipe if the teak needs a good deep cleaning to start with.
Just mix 1 cup TSP (trisodium phosphate, available at most hardware stores in white powder form) and 1-3 cups ammonia with 3-4 gallons of fresh water. That is your #1.
Wet the teak and scrub across the grain using a Doodle Bug pad with the #1. Keep teak and surrounding areas wet but do NOT wash off #1.
Mix 2-3 cups muratic acid with 3-4 gallons fresh water. That is your #2.
Spread the #2 on to the teak and lightly scrub with a soft brush head. Again trying to scrub across the grain as much as possible. The teak will go blond as the acid reacts to the #1.
Be sure to get the #2 on all the teak that has been scrubbed with the #1.
After you have lightly scrubbed down all the teak with the #2 rinse everything off very, very well.
Since you mix this yourself you can delute it down to any strength you wish and it costs
about one tenth or less of the permixed kits.
It should go without saying that you should use hand, eye and body protection when using this
or any other harsh cleaner.
And it should not be used to clean the teak on a regular basis.
For everyday cleaning I like Oxalic acid crystals. Otherwise known as wood bleach.
If the grain and/or seams are raised up, then it is time to sand.
And IMHO, oiling decks just ends up being a PITA and makes more maintenance headaches in the long run. I like just keeping them clean and natural. |
a)
How big is your boat?
b) With all that work, no wonder you find it a PITA.
c) With all the commercially available and tested stuff on the market why play chemist?
d) Whenever I hear 'sand' I'm reminded of a neighbor (who I didn't like) that I watched power sand his teak; then oil it. It looked beautiful until the first rain storm when all the oil just washed off with no grain to hold it. I'd been taught to only use bronze wool.