Finishing teak deck chairs

Did no chairs, but a foldable garden table conversion and used Epifanes varnish (brushed 6 layers), to give it more of a ‘boat look’!
I filled the opening with teak deck seaming caulk.

Dan

My marine carpenter/finisher uses 2 coats of west system no stain, followed by 6-8 thin coats of clear Epihanes. If you want a "mirror", follow with 1000 grit, #4 pumice stone in lemon oil, then rotten stone in lemon oil. You can do less of course.

Oil and polish is another option. Methodology is all over the net.

You can also keep them natural by regularly washing them with a mixture of bleach and water for a faded teak look, but no gray

Oil is less forgiving on you back if you don't keep up with maintenance. Varnish, well we all know about that....

Your forgetting something; You coat those chars and you (and others) will be SLIDING out of them. That bare wood holds you in place.
Slip Slide comes to mind.

If they were my chairs, I'd oil them and be done with it..just remember teak is a very soft wood, so when you do wash them scrub (lightly) across the grain. If you go with the grain, eventually you'll wear out the soft parts and will result in razor sharp ridges.

We use Teak Wonder on ours, they look great and hold up well, once a year we give a good scrub with soap and a 3m pad then reapply TW. Half way thru the season we give them another coat.
The varnishing will take you a long time, and unless you are really good at it, your end product might not be so nice. I must say a set of varnished chairs do look outstanding!

stronger base, excellent sealer particularly on the end grains and good build. You probably don't want to use the epoxy if you are not going to polish and get that 'glass' finish. Another thing you may want to do is put some rubber dibble feet on the chairs to keep them out of any surface water on the deck - that's usually all end grain and will soak up a lot of water.

Another solution is a combination application. Oil the slats and legs, varnish the arms, sides, head and seat piece. You will probably use cushions over the slats anyway.

Nice looking chairs, BTW. Let them have some sun for a couple of weeks/months and the teak wood colors begins to look more uniform.

If you use the bleach and water method you can put the mixture in a spray bottle, apply it to a wet chair and hose it off after about 15 minutes. If you do it often enough for your region/weather, no need to scrub. This of course does not give an "oiled" look. Oil is actually like a petri dish over time and will grow all kinds of things, hence the scrubbing.

Could you post a picture Beau?

Picked this one off the net, soap. water and ammonia used here

bleach will give you a "whiter" coloring

We have folding teak chairs that stay inside and they are spray varnished/finished. We have some that go outside on deck and they are kept natural/unfinished. The unfinished chairs are used with a high gloss teak table and they are kept covered or stored inside when the boat is not in use.

RER
What do you use on the outside chairs to prevent them from going silver/gray?

We've not done anything to them in five years. They are exposed to the elements only when in use. And even then a lot of the chair is covered by the cushions. They are on the way now to turning gray though.

Assuming you are talking about West System 105/207 clear, be aware that this will run & sag like the dickens. The only approved way to get coverage on a vertical surface is rolling and tipping.

I love 105/207 - heck I even coated by iPhone bumper with it to increase grip! - but I don't think this is a good application.

but I don't think this is a good application.

Refugio

Its a pretty common method. The entire process is not for the faint of heart though, or those in a hurry. If you've never done it, practice on waste material to get your brushing skills in order and learn the flow properties of the material. Too many try to load their brushes with half the can at a time! I saw one fellow at the dock doing his covering boards by pouring the varnish out, then pushing it around with a brush (why you would varnish covering boards in the first place, I don't know)

Nice Barlow Tyrie chairs.

Any finish you apply like a varnish or polyurethane will have real problems anywhere that nice bronze hardware penetrates. You will never be able to seal it, and once water gets in under the coating you will be sorry. I use Amazon One Step Teak Cleaner once a year on chairs like these, with mild (white) 3M doodlebug pads. Leave them natural.

If you want the full on high gloss deep clear coat look, nothing seems to beat clear epoxy base coats followed by multiple coats of clear poly like Awlgrip. It also makes for one of, if not the, longest lasting finishes.