Sanding the teak bowsprit platform

I can't say that I have done much work with teak....ok I haven't done any work with teak before. So as I sand on the bowsprit platform I wonder how much do I need to sand. By this I mean between the slats. It has the silver weathering on it, it won't be seen much, so do I need to sand it?  I will be coating the wood with Cetol so do I need every bit sanded? I posted the question on the Westsail Owners Association website. But if you know the answer or have a comment let me know. Below are a few pictures of some of the sanding I did last night. I was told teak is an oilie wood, but wow it is more than I thought! I can feel it on my hands when I dust off the sanding dust. It sure does sand out to a beautiful finish. I can't wait to put some finish on it to see how it looks.

 Do I have to  sand between the slats? Can I leave them weathered?
Look at the difference between the sanded platform and the weathered platform. A big difference!

To the left is a shot of the stainless steel all thread rod that goes through the platform. You can see I cleaned up the lower shorter piece. I used a stainless steel brush on it. I ended up chucking the rod in my drill press and just held the brush up to it as the rod spun around. It worked nice! I also chased the threads for the first few inches on each end just in case.