We had a teak garden table delivered at the weekend. 2 days later and after an afternoon of rain, the table has small splinters and has gone slightly rough. It is my understanding that Teak was not meant to splinter ? Surely there is no need to seal a table with teak oil when it's brand new ? It's homebase's top of the range "Winchester Teak". Has anyone else experienced this before ? Do homebase use a poor quality teak ?
Thanks in advance
Is it made of teak ? Most "teak" isn't.
What's the sustainability status of the timber too? Most of the real teak in circulation is illegally logged by the Cambodian military then sawn by Malaysian governent sawmills to hide the origin (Malaysia has 4x the sawmill capacity needed for its own production). It's quite reasonable to avoid teak altogether, because it's impractical to really guarantee the origins of what you're getting.
How much did you pay for this table anyway ? Given the usual price and usual quality of these things, you might have found your answer there.
On the Homebase website their "Winchester" range is described as "hardwood" and is 1/6th of the price for their top of the range teak set (although fewer items). I doubt it's even claiming to be teak. Depending on where it's made it's quite possibly eucalyptus or if you're lucky, rubberwood gluelam.
In my experience of teak, i make furniture from recycled timber so only use 'recycled' it is very prone to splinter as it has very long cells in its makeup. The roughness is due to rainwater raising the grain. If you use some silicon carbide abrasive that should cure it. p.s. Indonesia also uses Malaysia as a launderette for its timber exports. Anyway why not use a native timber oak, chestnut etc. Then the tropical forest can be left. Do not encourage B + Q.
We should encourage B&Q. Of all the sheds, they're one of the few that has a serious sustainability policy for their timber.
Cracking idea (no pun intended) - could you suggest where I could buy garden furniture made from oak or chestnut?
Biggles
Hi
Oh yes there is! Teak (if your table really is teak) withstands rot very well, but that doesn't mean it will look pretty while it does so.
Everybody uses 'poor quality teak' or a similar hardwood. That's how we plebs can afford hardwood garden furniture. If you bought a table made from 'top quality teak' it would cost thousands.
Dave
It's not difficult but it's usually hand made, to your spec and is incredibly expensive. One of my friends makes a very nice living making it - very well.
Mary
What sort of price range ? Generally stuff at this level is made to order, not bought from a shop. If you're serious, I (or many of my friends) make such things.
It's not cheap, and if you just want a simple bench to sit on during a barbecue then it's hard not to recommend simply buying something from B&Q. But if you want a Lutyens bench because you appreciate the design, or something that blends with the timber-framed barn it's alongside then you won't find that in the big sheds.
It's the Teak Wood 6 seater tabel advertised for 1k (including some chairs) - it's not actualy part of the Winchester range - but the table has a brass name plate with "Winchester" on it. I'm pretty certain that it's teak.
After doing some research, I'm not worried about how the teak was sourced as most teak used these days seems to come from various managed plantations. I'm sure Homebase wouldnt use a supplier with an illegal source.
Further update: I tracked down a commercial supplier that I think homebase use. Even if it's not the same supplier, they were very helpful regarding teak garden tables. I am going to wait for about a week then lighlty sand - hopefully it should then be fine. If not, I'll return it to homebase and consider another source. The supplier's advice was:
It is correct that our furniture comes untreated but all surfaces has been sanded and polished down to perfection. However Teak being a natural product it will change in the surface when it is being exposed to sun, wind and rain. The grains in the wood will rise a bit when it is exposed to rain the first time. This effect will increase again within a few days. If you want to you can give it a light sanding and it will become smooth again.
Important info regarding treatment with teak oil. When you receive your Teak furniture you should decide within the first week if you want to treat your furniture with teak oil or not.
The teak quickly begins to develop a silvergray patina to protect the wood and when it has been exposed to sun, wind and rain for a few weeks it will not accept the oil treatment anymore. The oil will simply not apply to the wood anymore. I would like to specify that applying teak oil is only for cosmetic purposes. The oil has not effect on the durability of the wood. You can always bring your teak furniture back to its original state but it will take a lot of time and hard work. You can either sand it or use our product called Basic cleaner.
ROFL...
Pinched the punch line!
Mary
Hi Andy, Thanks for your post! What number grit is good for a table top giving slivers? TY
You are replying to a 12 year old question! Not seen Andy in this group for some years so you are unlikely to get a response from him directly here.
For any timber like this where it may have been outside and exposed to rain etc, I would give it a sand at 80 grit, then 120, then 180. (you could go to 240 if you want, but it might be excessive for garden stuff)
Most of this sort of wood relies on being treateed regularly though, in my experience or it kind of warps and splits. Yes I do not see why anyone would suddenly start to reply to such an old thread. Its that stupid web site protal again which has a massive problem with dredging up old rubbish for no apparent reason. Brian
Its because the site highlights "best rated" threads with no regard to when they were posted. Quite how it derives its rating I have no idea, but it obviously misses the whole concept of usenet and the way articles expire.
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