In the rear is the three-teak-board rack with 10 test rectangles taped and numbered. In the top row are three sections for varnish (Epifanes, Pettit Hi-Build and West Marine Skipper's). The four slots on the middle board are for synthetics (Armada, Bristol Finish, Honey Teak, and Smith & Co.) On the bottom board are three sections for one oil (Deks Olje) and two pigmented stains (Sikken's Cetol and West WoodPro). In front of the rack are the products' containers, arranged in three rows to match their corresponding positions on the boards. Also collected for this test were almost four dozen sets of everything, including brushes, mixing sticks, containers, bits of sandpaper, tack cloths - all carefully marshalled to avoid any cross contamination.

Teak is a wondrous wood. Some wood-lovers don't care for its somber earth-tone colors, preferring instead the luster of mahogany, the richness of cherry, the odor of cedar, the opulence of American black walnut, the flamboyance of rosewood, or the startling beauty of many other tropical woods now available - wenga, bocote, goncalo alves, etc.

Millwrights and professional woodworkers hate teak, whose formal name is tectonis grandis, of the Vervain family (which includes the tea lover's Lemon Verbana). When cutting tools see teak coming, they scream in terror, "Oh, no!" That's because teak contains not only oil, but silica. It's tough stuff. The rough leaves of the teak tree are used…