W. Garvey Wooden Sinks
19 November 2008
“Touch Me in the Morning”
Sometimes things take a while to get used to. What immediately brings that to mind is that I’m listening to classical music, as I always 
am when I write these blogs, and Beethoven’s fourth Piano concerto is playing. This is not the place for a musical critique, of course, but I will say that I found the second movement to be one that I wrestled with for many years before coming to an appreciation of it.
I bring that up because the subject of today’s blog makes a product that seemed to me, at first thought, to be something that just could not work, namely a wooden sink. Teak is the species normally used for these sinks, because it is a wood with a large amount of oil that occurs naturally. It has been used in ships for centuries because of those very properties. It stands up well to the weather, but even so, the weather is normally such that every boat owner gets out there every spring and puts down another coat of varnish. And this, mind, is being done for deckings and railings, areas that are often wet, but are not underneath water on a regular basis or for an extended period of time. So, how, then, can a sink made of teak—or any other wood for that matter—actually do the job without eventually springing a leak? Isn’t it going to separate, swell, cra
ck, or delaminate? Because face it, no one really makes a sink from a single piece of wood. And even if it were possible to do such a thing, it would still be wood, right? So, how is it going to withstand that sort of thing? Funny you should ask!
The Wm. Garvey Company has been making wooden sinks since 1978. They have used teak since the beginning, for reasons already stated, but in the beginning they used no additional finishing for their sinks. The one problem they encountered is that teak needs regular maintenance by cleaning and re-oiling up to four times a year. That sort of thing is not a problem for a woodworker like me, but life being what it is, most people are just too busy to keep it up the way they should. Enter their new TeakSeal™ treatment system in early 2003. This system combines the benefits of polyurethane lacquers and teak oil in a system whereby polyurethane polymers are progressively impregnated for life into the teak itself. What that means for the consumer is that it works like any other sink, excepting only that you have to use non-abrasive bathroom cleaners, although Garvey’s customers swear that those sinks are actually easier to clean than ceramic.
But there’s stil
l the question of the durability of the TeakSeal™ itself because people don’t want it to look good for a year or two—they want it to look good for a lifetime. Well, sir! They have actually tested its durability with boiling water, hot fat, toothpaste, dirty greasy water left overnight, and dripping faucets to test for the accumulation of lime scale. And the picture of the spa says it all, I think.
Wooden sinks and countertops in kitchens and bathrooms bring to these rooms something both unusual and inviting. There is also a matter of practicality for the kitchen, as the wooden sink is a bit easier on delicate China than, say, stainless steel. But mostly, I think, such an addition, is a joy to any room it resides in, but especially so, for the two most important rooms in your home, the kitchen and bathroom.
No matter how busy you are, you are in those two rooms every day of your life, and you touch the contents of those rooms every day. If you’re considering remodeling, especially if you own a tract home, it is, in part, because the contents of those rooms are cheap and outmoded and shabby, and handling them on a daily basis is getting a little depressing. Why not fill those rooms with items that lift your soul every time you touch them?
Joseph
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