It is known that teak is a valuable, even elite species of wood. The unique characteristics of its wood, its noble texture and centuries-old service life determine the use of this material in the creation of a wide variety of structures in construction, furniture manufacturing or shipbuilding. Many people mistakenly believe that wood possesses such properties due to a special substance that is part of it - teak oil. However, in fact, it has nothing to do with teak.
Nevertheless, it is this composition that allows you to give ordinary wood the qualities inherent in the legendary tree. Fortunately, today it is not at all difficult to purchase this oil: on the shelves of construction and hardware stores a similar product is found quite often. It is used to improve the technical and operational qualities of any wooden products.
Teak oil contains at least three herbal ingredients and synthetic additives. Usually, vegetable oils of flax, soy and tung tree seeds are used as the main raw material for its manufacture, and synthetic substances are added as regulators and improvers.
Teak Oil Properties
The main advantages of this product should include a special ability to give wood products a gloss and a deep radiant shade. Do not forget that with its help technical indicators improve - the service life of wooden products is significantly increased. In addition, the processing of wood with teak oil promotes the impregnation of the surface and middle layers, so that the material does not dry out and does not crack. The use of such impregnations provides a reliable opposition to the harmful effects of water and the sun - no whims of nature are afraid of the treated wood. Therefore, a similar composition is used to care for products that are not only indoors, but also on the street for the treatment of terraces, deck chairs, benches, railings, entrance doors or window frames.
The indisputable advantages of this product include ease of use. It is because of this that this processing substance remains popular and in demand.
disadvantages
The most significant disadvantages of teak oil (consumer reviews indicate this) include the fact that for the processing of building elements and street wood decor, you need to choose dry, warm days. If processing is carried out indoors, it is necessary to create a good circulation of fresh air.
Processing methods
Typically, the impregnation mixtures purchased at the store are ready to use. Sometimes, in order to create a more fluid consistency, they are bred with purified turpentine. Depending on the type of wood being processed, there are two ways of processing it.
If it is planned to process a new product, as well as a product that has never been previously treated with teak oil or other types of impregnations, then preliminary preparation of its surface is assumed. To do this, they clean it, carefully dry it and grind it along the fibers with the help of fine- or medium-abrasive sandpaper. Dust generated during grinding must be completely removed. Only after that, an oil layer is applied along the wood fibers using a special dispenser or a high-quality paint brush. Repeated use of teak oil makes it possible to eliminate the process of grinding the surface, since wood no longer needs it. In this case, a fresh layer of oil impregnation is applied to its cleaned and dried surface.
Subtleties of work
When applying oil, it must be remembered that it is applied in a generous layer and thoroughly rubbed. The ends and edges of the wooden product are primarily processed. It is in these places, due to the capillary effect of the fibers, intensive absorption of the processing compound occurs.
After 15-20 minutes, excess impregnation is removed with a towel or rags. This will prevent the formation of puddles and spots on the surface of the products and allow the oil layer to evenly absorb.
How many layers of impregnation are required?
The oil dries completely within six hours, so further processing of the product is carried out only after this time has elapsed. It is believed that in order to achieve the optimal characteristics of wood, it is necessary to carry out at least three stages of impregnation. Many masters recommend that such a process be carried out until the oil is no longer completely absorbed into the tree.
Final touch
At the end of processing with teak oil, the surface of the product is treated with a cloth. This is what gives the tree deep sparkling shades, transparency and gloss. However, often, even after thorough processing and lengthy drying, the wooden surface remains sticky and continues to absorb moisture. Therefore, as the final stage of wood processing, the surface is coated with hardening oils after drying. Due to the ability to seal the pores of wood hermetically, they contribute to a long service life of the product. In addition, they also give the product an excellent shine.
How can teak oil be replaced?
For the initial finishing of wooden coatings, oils are used that do not harden after drying. An excellent alternative to teak oil is flaxseed and tung. They are obtained from the seeds of these plants. Despite the fact that both of these products are hardening oils, they are not very suitable for finishing. For their complete polymerization, a sufficiently long time is required, much longer than for absorption and drying on a wooden surface. It will take at least two weeks to harden the raw linseed oil. It takes about three days to polymerize pure tung oil . Therefore, if it is necessary to accelerate the hardening process, special metal-containing desiccants are added to these oils, but then the oil compositions acquire completely different properties and are called quite differently.