[alexrom1207]

Just a note on teak for everyone. My father has a classic hatteras motoryacht 61' and CHOCK FULL OF TEAK for his son to spend summers varnishing...... so in other words, I've gotten pretty good at this. I've seen a lot of threads discussing teak so I figured I'd just throw in my 2 cents. The oil content of teak is really a bitch if you're trying to varnish it without prior treatment. There are a number of two part teak cleaners which will make the teak very clean looking and also dry the wood out a bit. Just wear gloves because they do the same thing to your skin! Ouch, trust me. Anyway...these will make the teak much easier to varnish, just make sure to varnish shortly after the cleaning process. You have to get all the prior varnish off, use the two party cleaner, let dry, sand down to a smooth finish (100 grit then 400 grit works well for me) I usually then take some acetone on a rag and wipe off the teak. This gets all of the little pieces of wood off and also serves to dry out the wood a little more. (DO NOT OVERDUE THE TWO PART CLEANER, IT REALLY TAKES A LOT OUT OF THE WOOD....so if you do this it's usually a good idea to do it once the right way rather than having to redo it later) Then go straight on with an EXTERIOR MARINE varnish. 3 coats, then sand with 400 grit wet paper. another 3 coats, sand again, and then finish with a couple more coats and sand with a 600 or 1000 grit wet paper. I've never tried an epoxy finish but I think that would put a nice hard coat over the varnish. If you do that though you may want to rough the last layer of varnish up with a 100 grit dry paper. I know this is a lot of work but the results are worth it. If you're only doing a small gun it shouldn't be bad. I did a 10 foot teak boat pole and it took nearly an entire day. Of course it was left out during the winter here in the northeast so I had to do it again next summer, but I think we all baby our guns so I imagine the finish should last. Again just my two cents...the other methods will probably work just fine and may be easier. Good luck