I’ve tried all kinds of oil on our admittedly teak garden furniture and benches over the years and my conclusion is that it isn’t worth the effort. I simply cover in winter and in Spring wash off with a drop of washing up liquid in a bucket of water with a non abrasive washing up sponge, across the grain so as not to remove the wood. Let It dry thoroughly and sand with a 320 grade abrasive paper just to “de nib” the wood, brush off and that’s it.
For extreme weathering Roseal in the UK sell a teak restoration gel which is painted on and scrubbed off, that takes the wood back to looking new, needs sanding after though and then the above the following year, works for me.
I haven’t come across that brand before, but as far as I can see it looks fine.
The finer sandpaper you use, the less absorbent the smoother surface will become.
I would be tempted to try just using 120 grit first, especially for the first time as you want as much oil as possible to penetrate the wood to restore it.
Then if you refinish the wood once or twice a year you can use a finer grit next time around if you prefer a smoother finish.
We have a Bramblecrest teak bench and every couple of years (annually ideally) I clean it with Ronseal Garden Furniture Cleaner which gets loads if gunk off it really easily and then I give it a couple of coats of Bramblecrest Teak Protector which you rub on with a lint free cloth. We were advised against using teak oil and covering it as apparently mould can grow on it.
We have the same style Bramblecreast bench, with a cushion shaped to fit the bench.
I use the cleaning fluid and the protector fluid both as supplied by Bramblecrest. The plastic bottles both look like the style on the right in your picture.
Takes a bit of time to apply and remove grime, then more time to apply the protector, but the result is a bench that looks new, yet again.
We use the same products on our hardwood patio table and chairs with equally good results.
Yesterday I got some 120g sandpaper out and sanded back the arms on the chairs and they have come up lovely and smooth with a real nice grain underneath. I’ve just ordered a small hand sander as the tables are going to take forever doing them manually.
I’ve ordered some Teak Oil and will give it a whirl over the weekend.
Thanks for all the advise so far, hopefully on Sunday I will have some nice furniture again.
I usually prefer to do this sort of sanding by hand, but a powered sander will certainly speed things up - at least in the areas it will reach. Have fun!
Think the original furniture must have been sprayed as can’t get the same match but it’s looking a million times better vs. last week thanks to the advice here.
