Basically no, and no. You could paint it, but that would be a shame.

That's what I was afraid of! Too bad, the table is perfect other than the color.

Teak darkens nicely with age to an almost mahogany color -- would that work for you? And it doesn't take very long. How old is this table? When you say "natural," what color do you mean?

If the teak has been outside, it may have lightened, but treating it with teak oil or similar should bring back the darker color.

When I refinished furniture, anything teak usually got a coat of Watco oil NATURAL because you really didn't want to mess with the awesome "natural" color of teak itself.

You "could" darken it, but, IMO, that doesn't do this particular wood justice. There are just certain woods that can't exhibit their true natural beauty other than with a natural oil or stain or just lacquer.

JMO.

Kevin

Thanks for the responses. This table is in excellent condition, but is not the lovely danish teak table people are envisioning. It has an almost 80's light oak color with a pinkish tone, not an orangey oak color. I wasn't looking for a teak table, but this had the perfect dimensions, wrong shade for my light ash, almost yellow tinted floors.

Wouldn't a gel stain work? that should stain evenly because it sits on the wood, rather than soaking in. I tried the General Finish gel stain recently and it worked perfectly for my project! I had purchased a loveseat/rocker set, but the loveseat had been stripped. I used the gel stain to match the loveseat to the original finish on the rocker and it came out great! Warning that it's really messy to work with, so use a big dropcloth, rags, and gloves. lol!

I had actually wondered about that, but had not really heard of it being used on furniture that would receive so much direct contact, such as a tabletop. Would it scratch or wear off?

annalyn123, I don't have enough experience with gel stain to know the answers to your questions. My *guess* is that scratching would not be a problem, but to protect a tabletop surface from abuse I'd coat it with polyurethane.

FYI, pics of my gel stain project. Here's what the loveseat looked like after I cleaned it:

And here it is after 1 thin coat of Java gel stain... the rocker I was trying to match is also shown. I'm thrilled with the match!

Thanks for sharing the photo! Your love seat looks great! How lucky to have been able to make such a great match.
I may take a trip to a Woodcraft store to pick up some gel stain and play around with it.

Teak is an oily wood, and it's VERY difficult to get anything but a penetrating oil finish to stay on it. There's a reason it's always oiled.

Paint peels like a bad sunburn.

Find a cheap teak tray or bowl at a thrift store and see if you can refinish it. Clean it well with denatured alcohols and try a oil-based wood stain.

Lazygardens, thanks for the information and the suggestion. I think I have an old teak bowl I can try that on.

I think staining teak should be a crime. I suppose there might be a reason for staining it, but then I would have used a different wood to start with.

I've had a teak coffee table, dinner table and sofa table for years - they're in great shape but I'm changing out the dinner table for a darker wood - and we're putting in dark floors so I think the natural teak will clash. I'm going to try the danish oil in a darker color - wish me luck! Thanks for the 2cents.

I accidentally liked my own comment.

I obtained an outdoor folding teak dining table that had been stained with a red stain. The table is made of slats; some run horizontal and some vertical. There are a lot of gaps between the slats. I attempted to sand off the layer with the stain. The range of results is considerable. Some have the honey color. A few are grey. Most are shades of red. A few remain quite red. The slats are not all perfectly even in height and some slats are harder to get at for that reason. Also, the stained corners of the sides of the slats are quite apparent. I found it very difficult to sand in between them. If I could disassemble it completely, I might be able to sand every part evenly, but I do not know whether that would get the stain out. Also, as the outer ring of the table is joined with dovetails, I am unsure that I can do that.

I had the same issue with outdoor teak lounge chairs a couple of years ago. I used a power washer (instead of sanding) and had great results. You can reach those gaps between the slats: just be careful with the amount of pressure you use. I then applied an outdoor stain with a red tint (which I wasn't crazy about) and they looked much better. Now, 2 years later, they are worn in places and I'm thinking of trying the power wash technique again and applying a stain with a grayer tint. I think it was a Benjamin Moore product that a color and protector/sealer in it.

Good luck!

I have a teak bed (circa 1971) - Scandinavian box w/slats frame, headboard with attached drawers. I’m assuming that it is in its natural color, just oiled? Anywho, is it possible to strip it and stain in a white wash? (Like I’ve done to this vanity in knotty alder)

I've just refinished my teak.kidney shape coffee table. I stripped, sanded and oiled. I wanted to get some
big oil stains off of it. I've oiled it down now several times with tung and teak oil and it took stains away but mow there is some white water stain type stains showing thru and wondering if I should use a stain and wondering if it really is teak.