I flicked some tap water (I'm fastidious.) on the table & it just sat on the surface. Beaded, actually. I observed for less than a minute before wiping it off, but I think any soaking in would have occurred immediately. So, the table has a finish. My Merry Maids were wise in just wiping the table with a damp cloth.
Why do you recommend Johnson's wax? My seller warned me not to use a Pledge-type polish. Am I confusing things, here? Do Pledge-type polishes have alcohol & Johnson's wax doesn't?
Thank you very much for your patience, time, and expertise. You have helped me & hopefully others. I'm going to return that tung oil when I get it & get my $40 back. Well, minus the return shipping charges. Lesson learned.
If you care, here's my table & chairs:
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don't know if you care to comment, but my entertainment center is also teak veneer, but when I compare it with the doors in my apt., I see little difference between it & them. I'm guessing the doors are mahogany veneer. I haven't analyzed the grain structure, however. Do teak & mahogany have similar appearances? I'm guessing teak is superior for furniture.
Your point is well taken. The seller has had three stores in the Seattle area for a long time, and I'm sure if the table were unfinished, they'd have told me so. Thanks for sharing this with me.
I suggested paste wax such as Johnsons because it is good; also because it takes considerable time and effort to apply which generally means people won't use it frequently. OTOH, Pledge is dead simple to use. My wife used to use it everytime she dusted; admittedly, it wasn't all that often but it was often enough to build up a layer of wax that functioned much like the La Brea tar pits. I used almost a quart of naptha getting it off a buffet. _______________
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handsome. The black "keys" set it off nicely. _______________
No, not at all. However, lots of woods have similar color when finished and most people react to that rather than the pattern and structure of the wood's grain. This is what true mahogany looks like...
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you live on the West Coast, it is most probable that your doors have been skinned with rotary cut Philippine mahogany. If you lived in the eastern US the likely skin material would be birch. "Philippine mahogany" is neither a true mahogany nor a single species...there are seven species marketed under that name and there is considerable variation in appearance. _________________
Don't tell Sheraton, Chippendale, Phyfe at al that :) The wood that so enamoured them was Cuban mahogany (Swietana mahagani) and that has been pretty much gone from its original habitat for a long time; fortunately, the Spanish established it in the Pacific a couple of hundred years ago so it is still avalilable albeit at a hefty price.
Like Philippine mahogany, there are several species of New World mahogany. Honduras mahogany (S. macrophylla) being the one generally referred to nowadays as "true mahogany". There is also one from Africa which closely resembles them but is a different genus.
Both teak and the New World mahoganies are wonderful woods (Khaya - African mahogany - is nice too). Both are reasonably hard and strong and work well; both weather well and are resistant to rot. Where teak really shines is on boat decks and that is because as it weathers to a silvery grey it also develops a roughness that provides welcome traction.
Everyone here has been helpful, esp. dadiOH. Lew Hodgett suggested Scott's Liquid Gold (SLG) & I've done some research, based on what dadiOH told me re: Do not apply a product containing alcohol over a lacquer finish. SLG's ingredients do not include alcohol; it is a naphtha-based product.
When my seller warned me not to use Pledge-type products, I vaguely remembered something re: silicone. Sure enough, Pledge has silicone. After dadiOH's information re: tung/teak, etc., oils & how they're marketed, I've decided: No alcohol, no silicone, no oil.
Unless someone warns me re: SLG, I think that's what I'm going to use.
I still suggest that for best results and no regrets, you should contact the manufacturer. That would be very simple, easy and prevent possible problems. I can't think of a downside to asking the person who made the furniture, how to best care for it.
I'm going to try & contact the maker. But, my only contact is the seller in Seattle (I live in MT, BTW). I think the seller is the importer & the maker is in Thailand, so it's going to be difficult to talk to the maker (I think). Anyway, I'll give it a shot. Thanks.
Thanks for correcting me. Shows how much I know. I guess the appeal of SLG is that it has no alcohol or silicone in it. Yet, I think it's better than just teak or tung oil & cheaper. I could be corrected.
dadiOH made a very good point: Grayed teak makes for good traction on a boat. I vaguely knew of teak until I owned my 1st sailboat. After I sold it, I wanted to have teak furniture, just for old times' sake. The 2d sailboat I owned, I became concerned re: condition of the topside teak (brightwork), but sold it before doing anything about it.
The thing is, topside decks, handrails, etc., need to be rough, rather than smooth. That nice-looking handrail in port actually is dangerous in rough weather at sea. I suppose it would be good to "recondition" the teak when you want to sell the boat.
Manufacturers of wood maintenance products make a mint off of people owning boats & outdoor teak furniture, spending time, work, & money trying to keep that "natural" look. I might buy another sailboat & if I do, I'll let the topside teak gray out.
Keep an eye on it. You want it a little bit rough, you don't want it so rough that you're getting splinters from it regularly (teak splinters tend to go septic--if you really want to let it go that far use white oak), and if you don't take at least a _little_ bit of care of it it will get there fairly quickly.
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