This table came from the house my mom and stepdad shared. I belongs to me, now — as much as a family heirloom can. I don’t think it was the original table to the chairs. I’d have to ask surviving family about it. All I know is that it’s Danish, it’s teak, it’s old (maybe 1960s?) and it was in sad shape.

 

The table with one of its leaves lived in the sunroom of the old house, and I can guarantee it didn’t get any kind of maintenance for many years. Then, as my (usually fastidious) step-pop’s facilities deteriorated, a lot more lack-of-coaster-related accidents occurred.

Cut to: the table has been in my apartment for 1.5 years, still neglected. Then I put both leaves in so I could work on a big craft project. It became clear, seeing the whole thing laid out, that it was time for me to fix this.

Curious as to what pentagon-shaped vessel caused all that damage. Vase?

Big difference between the regular part of table and the leaf which is stored most of the time.

I’m putting this blog post here because I found the process of getting information and help while starting the refinishing process to be a little frustrating and full of contradictions. I probably could have gone to the local wood shop store and found an expert, or go and find that one incredible store employee that helped me when I did that quick and dirty refinish of that thrashed dresser (a dresser I still use and love). Fortunately, The Brick House has an excellent post about refreshing teak.

Slowly I gathered I was going to clean the wood, sand the wood, and oil (or condition or refinish or blahblah) the wood. Oil and finish was the big question mark for me. Did I want something to soak WAY in? Did I want to stain or seal?  I happened to have two different teak-approved oils. One was Watco Danish Oil, and the other was a very old can of Danica House Teak Oil.  The Danish Oil made me a little nervous as it says it’s “penetrating oil and varnish that stains, seals and protects in one easy step.”  The Teak Oil, on the other hand, sounded milder: “will retain the original dull finish and preserve the fine wood. Does not contain wax, silicone or acid.” I went with the Teak Oil, because I figure there’s going to be a time in the future when I might want to get this table professionally restored. And it sounds like something that penetrates the wood so much (like the Danish Oil) might make it hard to remove and sand. 

I wiped down the table with Murphy’s Oil Soap. While it dried I went to my local giant hardware store and bought the finest sandpaper in the land. Sandblaster Pro! Everything is so over-the-top and macho in the home repair biz. Morgan from Brick House recommends 150 grit but I was very nervous about gouging/scraping/royally screwing up.

So I sanded away. With the grain! There isn’t a human, business or website on earth that won’t forget to remind you to sand with the grain! Otherwise, you will destroy humanity!

I sanded (one full piece of paper per leaf), I wiped off the dust, I girded my loins.

Here is the oil. It’s a petroleum-based product and smells. SMELLS. Open windows. I was assured the can was still good. It was the only thing I could afford at the MCM estate sale.

Preeeeetty. I went a couple applications and left the second on for a few hours. Much care has to be taken to remove all the excess. Also must destroy cloths after use “due to risk of self-ignition.” This is not a joke. My friend Gibbs and his family barely escaped their home after after a neighbor left a bucket of oily rags under Gibbs’ stairway and boom: self-ignition and fire.

After. Better, no? The leaves have some light, swirly scratches in the wood. NOT ME, I sanded with the grain. I presume they’re from sliding against each other when I’ve moved them in and out of storage.

After. Yeah, some of the water damage is still there and visible.

Yeah, stains remain. But this is the section that had the hexagon-shaped damage, which much less noticeable.

After, with the leaves put away. Oh, yes. 

After, another view. You can see the hexagon from this angle, but it really doesn’t bother me much. Placemats and coasters 4-ever.

I probably will finish off the whole shebang with Howard’s Feed N Wax, which will protect and feed the wood. Sounds like it will be easy to remove if I ever want to have this table really restored.

Lessons learned:

• I should’ve gone with a slightly heavier grit sandpaper; it was probably needed for me to get those swirly marks out.
• And, although I sanded WITH THE GRAIN, I was a little sloppy with the edges of the table, since the grain abruptly changes. I can see some light scratches going the wrong direction. I am an amateur.
• I should have completely finished sanding before applying oil. I had a terrible method of sanding and oiling, panel by panel, until I got smart. Again, I am an amateur who sometimes doesn’t have the most common sense in the world.
• There are many ways to treat wood, hence all the contradictions.
• There’s beauty to showing the age and markings of an old family piece.

There is soooo much more teak that needs TLC in this home. But first, let me gingerly sit at my “new” table and chase away anyone who approaches with a vase or a drink or anything that stains or a bad attitude or or or. 

Update: I went to a wood working store in search of the very hard to find Howard’s products. They didn’t have it there, either, but the smart and soothing expert sold me some Williamsville Wax (so nice, and natural!) and assured me I was on the right track with this table, and that I just needed to clean and brush-scrub it (much more than I did) when I do want to really restore the table. 

Bye! I made a blog post!