There’s nothing I love more than bringing something back to its former glory… or completely reinventing it into something even better. That’s what we did with this teak outdoor furniture set a friend dumped at our house. We are THOSE people who will take your trash so you don’t have to donate it or take it to the dump. This set sat in our friend’s driveway, in the elements, for several years, and then came to our house and sat outside for six more months.

Can You Sand Teak?

But it was surprisingly easy to restore. Many people will say you shouldn’t sand teak — because It’s soft — but I say gentle sanding is MORE than ok. In fact, it’s necessary. Sanding your teak furniture will make it look brand new in a few hours.

Tips For Sanding Teak

1. If you’re using an electric sander, start with 180 grit in a small section to test. Ensure it doesn’t damage the wood.

2. Lightly sand with 180 grit sandpaper

3. Use a Dremel or hand sand the narrow sections

4. Dust clean

5. Finish sanding with 300-400 grit sandpaper

How To Determine If It’s Real Wood

When shopping for real wood, it’s easy to be deceived online. Engineered wood is cheap so companies have gotten pretty good at disguising it as the real thing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve bought something on Facebook Marketplace just to get it home and realize it’s not real wood.

Here are a few tips:

1. Ask how heavy it is! Real wood is usually very heavy.

2. Look at the grain. Perfect, consistent grain is usually manufactured while real wood grain varies.

3. Find a seam or edge to see what inside the wood looks like!

My Message To You

During this project, I was reminded of how satisfying flipping furniture can be. This is always how I encourage people to start DIYing. Flipping furniture is a low-cost, low-stake project that can usually be fixed when mistakes are made. You can learn so much by just doing. Sanding is one of those things I find people love or hate, but either way, they always get better over time. Flipping furniture gives you the ability to hone your design skills and eye for potential, as well as technical skills like painting, using a brad nailer, or… sanding!

Staining Teak

People will also tell you not to stain teak because it is so beautiful raw. And it is! But this teak had seen some dog chewing and in its natural color, would have blended right into our front porch. So I opted for a gel stain. First I cleaned the chairs and applied pre-stain to help the wood’s pores expand and absorb more of the stain.

I used MINWAX Gel Stain in Walnut.

Chair Cushions

The cushions were in good condition, but did need a good cleaning. Luckily they’re machine washable, so I just tossed them in the wash and they looked good as new. I added some black cushions to complete the look and I couldn’t be more happy with our free patio furniture.

Plus, we didn’t have room for the bench and table, so we fixed them up and gave them as a gift to Chance’s sister-in-law for her birthday. It fits perfectly on their back porch.