Repairing a set of dining chairs  

A lot of time has passed, but this project is finally, mostly done 🙂

My process was:

- Murphy's oil soap with steel wool

- Light sand a few scratches with 320, though I left many of the scratches around the tops of the chair backs since they would have been difficult to sand out (character and all that)

- 3 coats of Star Brite teak oil

- 1 coat of Howards feed N wax (not sure if this was necessary, but shined things up just a little)

I haven't cleaned the chairpads, which have some dents in them. May replace these one day. I'm also still waiting for the screw plugs to arrive but otherwise the result is not bad. I think I did about as good as could be done to bring back the wood finish. I'm not thrilled but I'm satisfied. The wood grain is a bit uneven in areas and a bit more rustic looking than some newer teak chairs, but I suspect that's what this particular wood always looked like.

One more comment:

I ended up filling the screw holes in the seat backs with JB weld putty and it worked EXCELLENT. That stuff is super solid. Just fill the holes to near capacity, let it dry and re-drill. The screws went in super solid with no pull outs.

(With there was an edit) Exact product name I used in case anyone reads this in the future: JB Weld KwikWood. It's good stuff!

They look marvelous, darling. Bravo!

Best,

Aunt Mark.

Any tips on what stain to use for the oak plugs to match teak?

Nice job on the chairs!

I've had to replace a LOT of teak and rosewood plugs in furniture and I've tried a bunch of different stains but nothing looked very good. Then i finally sat down with big handful of unfinished oak and maple plugs and the various Minwax stains that I'd tried before, plus some Sharpies, and just started dipping and coloring. Minwax stains don't seem to have very many pigments because the result usually looks flat and dull. Different pigments reflect light at different depths or whatever, so more is good as long as they don't muddy each other.

SO, this is the combo i worked out for oak plugs to give them a reasonably close teak color. I included an extreme closeup so you can see the grain lines i drew--they look pretty crude when magnified but at normal size and normal viewing distance, they're fine.

Sharpie used to sell a pack of four colors of tan through brown markers for furniture touchups but I think they discontinued them. A friend of mine still has a set and there is one marker in it with a tan cap that is PERFECT for most shades of teak. It's not the same color marker than Sharpie currently sells with the same color cap, though. It's little darker and less yellow.

I think i mentioned above that you can stick these plugs in place with Museum Wax if they don't fit snugly. Ace Hardware carries little jars of it.

photo

Nice! Markers beat messing with stains in my book. Thanks.

Yeah, though with plugs I just plop them into the can of stain, let soak for a few minutes, then fish them out with a plastic spoon onto a rag.

Why not use real teak??

I couldn't find a source for real teak plugs.

I have never found a source either and since most of my work is for others who aren't absolute purists, and because keeping overhead costs within reason matters (i.e., time spent tracking down someone with a lathe and some teak stock, and getting the specs just right, paying for time & labor, etc.), I spend a few minutes coloring oak plugs. Works for me!

Widgetco.com has a pretty good selection of plugs, with options for diameter, head type, and wood. Not all combos are made with every wood type though. Since they are Imperial dimensions, they often require additional means (e.g. spanky's museum wax) to hold properly.

Their mahogany plugs might be easier to match to teak than oak are. No teak plugs, though.

Indeed a limited selection of teak: only 3/8" and 1/2" deck plugs. If too deep, those could be sanded/cut down to fit for cases that call for flush plugs.

Cherry might also be a good starting point for a plug, although you might need to let them sit for a while for the initial color change to happen before knowing how well they would match.