I've got a good layer of Cetol on my teak on the toe rail and Cockpit teak... anyone ever try to remove this stuff and what's the best way.. Chemical / Heat / Sander? / All?

I've used high strength adhesive remove from home depot. pour it on, wait for cetol to bubble up and then scrape away. it may take a few times especially if the pulp in the wood is partially gone.

Last fall I stripped the cockpit teak of over 15 yrs of cetol(never should have applied it when I did)--The teak was very weathered and grainy, so I used a heat gun carefully to remove the cetol--then I used a chemical stripper and stailess steel brush and a scraper, as well--It was a time consuming and ballbreaking job, but in the end worth it--the oiled look on 1971 teak is great.

I strip my Cetol off about every 4 years and start fresh. I use Amazon's Strip Away Remover. This is good for use around fiberglass. It is fairly thick so it clings to the edges, but it takes time for it to work. When you have removed the layers with a scraper, you wash the teak. There will be some streaks of Cetol that did not come up and I use a hunting knife and drag over these areas until I am down to the base wood. To clean the teak, I use a mixture of 1/3 detergent and 2/3 ammonia. Several applications of this mix with a scrub brush, with water rinses in between will clean out the blackness in the wood. After the wood dries I lightly hand sand, wipe with acetone and reapply the Cetol.

You can use any of the comercial cleaners and brighteners to clean the teak once it is stripped, but they all are harsh on the surrounding areas and on me, so I stick with my method, which gets the job done, even if it is somewhat more labor intensive.

quote:

Originally posted by Parkhil2:
Did powerwashing the Teak raise the grain? I had terrible results on combing boards on my CC. The powerwasher raised the grain making the boards very rough. Maybe I used too strong of a tip, but I would be careful. I have sanded the Cetol off with godd success. Takes time, but comes out looking great.

I used a fine spray nozzzle and approached the teak at an angle, I did not raise any of the grain. As for the raised black strips, I am sure your teak looks great, but some guys not as careful as you have a tendency to sand hard on the wood so the black strips over time and a few sandings stand proud tothe wood.