Either last year or the one before, I used a “teak oil” on a teak rocking chair that was badly weathered. About 3 weeks after, it pretty much disappeared. Upon searching the internet, I read somewhere that most of the “teak oil” products aren’t really teak oil at all and that teak oil doesn’t even exist. I ended up finding a brand called Golden Care. Specifically, I bought the cleaner and protector, the latter of which is more difficult to find for some reason. They advertise on their site that it is NOT teak oil, and it will protect 4x longer than teak oil. It is a water based and solvent-free product.
The nice thing is that the ones I (eventually) got (from Crate and Barrel. Not recommended to buy from there), came with a cloth and a scrubby. The project took me about a day (mostly because of curious wasps) and was an intense workout because the chair was not in very good condition with mold/mildew pretty much all over it.
What: Golden Care Teak Cleaner and Protector
How: manual clean and application
Project duration: 11am – 7pm (wasps!)
Materials: Gloves, scrubbies, water (hose or the like), apron (or work clothes)
While it looks and feels great (better than the deck!), we’ll see if it lives up to the claim. Already it seems better than when I used the “teak oil.” I got a serious workout from all the scrubbing I did as well as a nice tan. I ended destroying 2 Brillo pads alongside the scrubby it came with.