I recently noticed our teak dining room table was looking dry, so I decided to apply some mineral oil to it. Now, the patterns that have appeared make me think I might have made a mistake and possibly ruined the table. Has anyone dealt with this before? What should I do? Here's a link to some pictures: [https://imgur.com/a/lsCKj09](https://imgur.com/a/lsCKj09)
3 Answers
It’s a good idea to give it a few days for the oil to soak in. Right now, it’s still wet, so the imperfections are more noticeable. Just wait and see how it looks after some time.
Looks like the dryness you noticed was from the finish breaking down. The dark spots mean the oil soaked into areas where the finish is missing or damaged. Unfortunately, if it doesn’t improve, you might need to consider refinishing it completely.
The finish on your table is likely lacquer that has some wear. Oil will only penetrate where the lacquer is damaged. Your best option might be to sand the whole table down and either refinish it with oil or new lacquer. Just keep in mind that removing the oil before refinishing can be tricky.
You could also try using a stripper to take off the original finish before applying oil evenly. That might make things easier!