# Making birch look like teak



## jdham137 (Sep 27, 2010)

I'm redoing the inside of my sailboat and need to replace a rotted bulkhead. The original bulkhead was 1/2" teak plywood and I'm replacing it with 1/2" birch plywood. The finish will be Cabot's Marine semigloss varnish but before I put the gloss on I need to stain the wood to get it to the same color as natural teak. What would be the best way to get it this color? Would teak oil work or is teak oil designed to make teak darker? I just want the teak to keep it's natural tone, nothing darker. I also understand that it won't exactly look like teak, I just want to match the color. Thanks.


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## Wood4Fun (Aug 29, 2008)

teak is naturally darker than birch, and then it gets even darker when any oil is applied to it (either penetrating oil or oil based top coats). The wood getting darker when oil based finish is added is true for any wood

You are going to have to do some testing to find exactly what you want. I gave up on stains a while back in favor of dyes. The transtint dyes available from Rockler are pretty straight forward, and can be mixed to achieve a pretty vast range of tones.

when putting the dye or stain on, you will be looking to come up with something that initially looks lighter because it will darken when you add the varnish.

dye looks shockingly dull once it dries, but some magic happens once you add the oil based finish to it.

I'd guess you would be looking for something in the Golden Brown range from the Transtint. I usually do two tsp to 8oz of water. you could start by doing 1tsp to 8oz, do a small test piece, then add 1 more tsp... as long as your first test is a very small area, you won't be mucking with the ratio all that much (for reproducing). 8oz actually goes a long way.
applying water will raise the grain, so a light sanding is required to get the fur off.... and that will lighten the dye a little to. I use 220 grit when doing that.

once those dry and you sand off the fur that raises, apply your oil based finish and see how it looks... go from there.

I can tell you this - you won't even get close without spending the time up front to do some test pieces.

edit: you can also mix the Transtint with some type of alcohol instead of water. I think this eliminates the grain raising issue, but it may dry much faster than the water mix. I've only used it with water, which is why I use that in my suggestion.


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## Wood4Fun (Aug 29, 2008)

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=11448&filter=dye


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

Any worries about the ply rotting too? Teak is a moisture resistant wood, so if it rotted, it was exposed to a fair amount of moisture for a fair amount of time. Birch plywood will tolerate very little moisture, so unless you've eliminated the source of the moisture, I fear you're in for some issues with the ply. Better choices would be white oak, cypress, cedar, red wood, mahogany, and of course teak.


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## jdham137 (Sep 27, 2010)

The boat took on a lot of water previously and will now be air conditioned, but after reading about how difficult it is to match tints and how long it will take, I think I might be better off just biting the bullet and paying more for the teak veneered plywood. Thanks for the words of advice folks, I sincerely appreciate it. 

John


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

jdham137 said:


> The boat took on a lot of water previously and will now be air conditioned, but after reading about how difficult it is to match tints and how long it will take, I think I might be better off just biting the bullet and paying more for the teak veneered plywood. Thanks for the words of advice folks, I sincerely appreciate it.
> 
> John



If you have the moisture problem solved, and you already have the Birch ply, it may be cheaper to buy a piece of Teak veneer and veneer the Birch ply.












 





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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

knotscott said:


> Any worries about the ply rotting too? Teak is a moisture resistant wood, so if it rotted, it was exposed to a fair amount of moisture for a fair amount of time. Birch plywood will tolerate very little moisture, so unless you've eliminated the source of the moisture, I fear you're in for some issues with the ply. Better choices would be white oak, cypress, cedar, red wood, mahogany, and of course teak.


I agree with this. Just about anything would be better than birch plywood.

I have done the type of job you are facing and I used solid oak.

George


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## jdham137 (Sep 27, 2010)

Well, I live in a part of the country that if I get teak plywood it has to be shipped at a stupid-expensive rate. However, I can get cedar anywhere. What kept me from doing it though is expansion and contraction. If I join several pieces of cedar, cut to shape, then completely seal in multiple coats of varnish, will it expand and contract much with changes in humidity? It's a fairly tight fit and I don't want it putting pressure against the hull and then cracking the fiberglass. If this is possible then I think I'd rather have an interior made of cedar. It's a much cheaper alternative than teak and something that's readily available.


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## jack warner (Oct 15, 2010)

not gonna happen sorry those species are far apart. you can get it close with a faux finnish.
teak lam not a bad idea, ive used cabot i like man-o-war ALOT better. i would take a piece of the teak to someone that can tint a stain to match the birch, but its still not gonna look like teak


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