Lesley T.
Excellent product, beautiful finish. We first applied 5 coats of clear tone to an uncoated teak dining table. We then ’top-coated’ it a couple of weeks later with 2 coats of clear coat. We could not be happier.
Peter Eastaugh
Forget the Rest, Use the BEST!
After having used many other brands of furniture oil over MANY years, I thankfully stumbled across the Semco range on Jati Furniture website. While it took a while to strip off the old junk & give a sand, the 2 coats of Sealer followed by 2 of the Clear Coat, and the tables look better than new! I did our recliner chairs about 12 months ago & they've only had a quick rinse with the hose & still look great. I threw out the remainder of the Feast Watson stuff as I’m never going back to that stuff.
Jane
Worth the effort to do a proper job
We have used many teak sealers, and protectorants, in the past, on both household teak furniture and in a marine environment on our boat. Semco is by far superior to everything else we have ever used.
We have a large eight seater outdoor dining setting, plus a 3 seater "chat" setting with a midsize table and 2 side tables. All have lived in a harsh outdoor environment for over 20 years, and though I hate to admit it, have been totally neglected. We did consider throwing a few of the pieces away, they were that badly covered in lichen and mould.
However, with the recent lockdown in Sydney we decided the time was right to try to rejuvenate all the furniture.
I used the Semco cleaner and brightener to clean everything (I actually used a toothbrush with the cleaner to get into all the grooves and between the slats). We then applied 2 coats of the Cleartone in Natural to everything, and then 2 coats of the Clear Coat, so that we ended up with a "Rolls Royce" job.
It was a long process, but worth it, and a lot of work, but all the furniture looks brand new. We are absolutely delighted with the result. It is 3 months since we finished the job and it still looks great.
Semco is the only thing I will use from now on.
Mark from Soozal was also very helpful. At one stage I accidentally ordered 4 litres of the wrong thing (a pitfall with all the names being very similar), but Mark was more than happy to exchange it for me as I hadn't used any of it.
Sabrina
Disappointed with bad advise
Not recommended to be used on raw wood alone as I was advised that it was ok to do so. It’s not as high UV protection as I was made to believe. Not to be used on the entire set of furniture, but the seller didn’t correct us. We were told that it was fine to use over another product called Golden care teak shield which is a water based product on the dining table and it won’t darken the wood as he said the Semco clear gloss is clear..Wrong. I then found out on a few sites that it will darken the timber a bit. It was a nightmare trying to remove Semco clear gloss as we went through enormous amount of sandpaper rolls, not to mention having to use a knife to scrape off. We bought the four litre $209 and ended up with a shocking finish teak outdoor setting. I was advised by the seller that it was absolutely fine to use the clear gloss on decks (bad advice). Just as well we didn’t apply it on the deck. If you want to be a distributor of a product, you should know everything about it. I contacted the company SEMCO in the US who made this product, “see below” is what they said.
SEMCO Clear Coat is a food stain protectant for table tops and the arms of chairs, to be used over the Sealer. It is not a higher level of weather protection. It is not recommended for covering the entire set of furniture, as it may prevent the reapplication of the Sealer as the primary weather protectant.
Peter NAVIN
the best yet
I was searching for a treatment for a new teak outdoor dining table but did not want to cover the grain with a" run of the mill"," off the shelf" type lacquer so I searched the web for a quality finish and came across Semco Teak treatments. Unfortunately, the site I found indicated that I could only purchase the product from the US but a little help from my local Mitre 10 store and my local Inspirations Paint shop led me to the Australian supplier,Soozal.
I contacted Soozal and found a very helpful staffer, Mark Laurance, who was able to advise me how much and how to apply the product, Semco Clearcote and also gave me some tips of how best to treat my new table.
I was most impressed with the service from Mark and appreciated his advice greatly. The result that I was able to achieve was beyond my expectations. The ease of applying the sealer and the clear instructions of how to apply was spot- on. No mess, easy application, easy cleanup and an excellent finish on our table. Also, as I have a large quantity of product left over, I will be able to re-cote my table annually, as advised, for many years to come.
The initial outlay to purchase the Semco Clearcote was well worth it when you consider the quality of the finish and the number of times that I can do a re-cote. FIVE STAR PRODUCT for my money!!!