when I scrubbed the wood, the softer grain between the harder lignin got removed leaving a striped and rough texture that I found very difficult to sand smooth. Yes, I had more of that the last time I did it (couple of weeks ago) than the first or second.? The teak had been exposed for a long time (years) to harsh conditions and was simply in a lot worse shape.? Eventually, nothing will bring it back.? (I gave up on the teak handrails on top of the cabin and just replaced them and the base they were mounted on?-- partly for the aesthetics, but also because they're not merely decorative but highly functional.? Since I did remove those, I reattached them with through-bolts, rather than the questionable screws attaching the originals.) The best I could do on this last pass was to make sure my sandpaper had a strong flat backing (either the power sander pad, or at least a sheet of sandpaper folded several times), in an effort to shave off the ridges without digging into the softer pulp.? The result was quite acceptable, though the rails won't ever again have that pretty clover honey glow as when new.? But then, I don't either.? And I pretty well guaranteed that about 15 years ago, when I inadvertently finished off with tung oil rather than teak oil.? The former greatly darkens the wood over time.? I toyed with replacing the toe rails?during the current re-fit, but when I saw how many bolts there were, I grew faint and had to go lie down and let it pass. I've always just finished with oil.? Not ambitious enough to start dealing with varnish.? (As of this summer, I'll hereafter have to deal with bottom paint, and that'll be enough added maintenance.) -----Original Message----- From: Mark Delin <fernandelin@sbcglobal.net> To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Sent: Tue, 8 Jul 2008 2:30 pm Subject: Re: M_Boats: Brightwork Refinishing Hi Paint4real, Thanks for your suggestions. I have been unhappy with my previous experience with using the two-part chemical teak cleaners because of the damage it caused the last time I used it - when I scrubbed the wood, the softer grain between the harder lignin got removed leaving a striped and rough texture that I found very difficult to sand smooth. Perhaps I was over zealous. So far, I've succeeded in cleaning the wood substantially using acetone. One person recommended using household bleach to take the gray off - it seemed to work a little bit. In my experience it doesn't take a whole lot of sanding to take the old gray look off. I'm planning to refinish with Cetol Light, followed by the Marine Gloss - this produced a pretty decent finish on my old Cape Dory Typhoon I had prior to my M-15. When I re-apply the toe rail and other wood - I'm going to first coat the bolts with the old standard bedding compound Dolphinite - I have found that this really helps prevent corrosion, and will hopefully make the rails easier to remove in the future. It is also useful to use between the wood and fiberglass - helps join them nicely together and prevents water infiltration into the screw holes. Mark _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats