April 24, 2017

refurbish that withered teak wood chair and give it a new look and safe a lot of money

I take it, you all have figured out by now that I can be a bit of a save the environment nutter! So here is my appeal to you to not kick your old withered looking teak wood garden chair into the land fill and make it grow even bigger! Rather, spruce it up! And if I can´t make you see the impact on the environment let me show you the economical impact it will have on your wallet!
Redo an old teak wood chair and safe a lot of money and the environment


This teak wood chair was purchased in 2001 and never got any extra love. It was parked on a balcony all year around. I just checked online, a similar one would now cost new 149€. So if you instead buy a can of teak oil for 12.99€ (that will last for many chairs and a table) and invest 2 hours of your time I come up with the following calculations:
149€ minus 12.99€ = 136,01€
Divided by two hours of work it comes to 68,05€ per hour of work that you safe.

Now there are not many people that make that hourly rate at work AFTER tax has been deducted (and in some countries pension and state health insurance).

So here is the big question: How many hours do you have to spend at your day job to pay for one chair? Would you rather go work this many hours in your day job to be able to buy a new chair? Or invest roughly 2hours of your spare time and have an old chair look like new and safe the environment? If you still say you want to shop for new ones, than please don´t trow your old ones on your local landfill mountain, but either put them on craigslist or your countries equivalent. Or donate them to good will, cancer research shops or red cross shops. You´ll be doing a double good deed, not just make someone else happy but safe the nature!

Have I convinced you?
If yes, here are the instructions on how to spruce up your old teak wood chair:

First you brush it off with a steel brush. Get all the moss, dirt, bird poo and other grossnesses off.

shows old teak wood chair before restoring
this is what the old withered chair looked like before I got
started


Next step get a small bucket of water and a sponge.  I reuse mine! I always throw them into the hot wash after a few days, and once they reach the end of life time, after what feels like a gazillion of washes, I use them for projects like this. Start scrubbing off the grey layer on the teak wood. It comes off fairly easy. The water gets filthy pretty fast, therefor you will need to change it several times. I don't add soap to the water as it will dry the wood even more and the grey layer came off just fine without. There is no need to stress the wood even more.
shows reuse of old kitchen sponge
This is what those sponges look like after a gazillion of washer cycles! Don´t throw them out, reuse them! Safe money and the environment!

shows before and after of step 2 of refinishing a teak wood chair
left side is before scrubbing with water, right side after

shows before and after of step 2 of refinishing a teak wood chair
grey goo needs to be wiped off with a soft cloth before applying the teak oil.  

Clean bits and pieces of the grey goo off with a soft cloth and
now let the chair dry thoroughly in the sun.
after step 2 for redoing teak wood chair, shows freshly scrubbed teak wood before applying teak wood oil
Fully cleaned and nearly dry chair. 


Once it is dry get gloved up and another sponge and start applying the teak oil. Read your teak oils instructions, mine could get a second layer after only 10 minutes. So by the time I finished the chair I could start again at the top as the 10 minutes had passed already.
refinished teak wood chair after redoing an old withered teak wood chair
refinished teak wood chair



Most teak wood furnitures should be happy after 2 layers. But this chair hadn't seen any love in 16 years so I gave it a third layer. After 10 minutes I wiped off all excess oil that hadn't been soaked up. This is an important step as it will leave staines if you don't do it or leave it too late.



restored teak wood chair
Now doesn't it look like new? Wasn't´t it well worth the time?

Now stow it away safely to let it dry for 48 hours and after that you can park your derrière on it again and enjoy a cuppa coffee.
BTW teak oil is not made from teak wood, it is just a product made to preserve the wood! It usually contains linseed oil and can be used to preserve other woods, too! Wich will be one of my next projects! You can find out more about teak wood and teak oil here.





15 comments:

  1. I lovea DIY and I love teak! You did a bang up job. That chair looks brand new and cost very little to refurbish compared to purchasing a new one. Money well spent in my opinion. :)

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    1. In mine, too! I hope I could convince some to rather redo the old furniture instead of buying a new one

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  2. You had us at "bird poo" and "grey goo". The chair looks fantastic!!

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    1. Thanks Jinzo! I didn't want to make it sound like you could enjoy a cuppa coffee while your get your nails done and the chair magically redoes itself ;)

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  3. well done! I am really liking the finished product. Do you add a cushion to the seat, or do you leave it as is?

    ~Mary

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    1. I am making cushions at the moment from used Coffee bean canvas sacks that would probably go really well with the chair. Good thinking thanks for the inspiration, Mary!

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  4. That's a beautiful finish. I love teak. Please share your posts on my Sunday's Best linkup. This is a great share. Found you on Google+

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    1. Thank you Rhonda. I feel humbled! I looked up the linkup and bookmarked it!

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  5. Nice project! The chair looks great.

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  6. We have a pine "Jack and Jill" seat that is starting to look a bit weathered - I know it needs some time and elbow grease - I like your calculations to justify putting in the work!
    Leanne | cresting the hill

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    1. Thanks Leanne, I find the calculations help people to rather restore than kick-out still useful pieces that just need a little TLC

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    1. Wow, I am very chuffed! Thanks for the chance to participate!

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