RPetry

As I recall from the old, good Cabot's Aussie Timber Oil, it was the Tung oil that laughed at normal sodium hydroxide strips.

Keth, It could possibly be Extreme Solutions stain, Wood Tux, manufactured by the long lost Russell Cissell. It kind of had a flash in the pan, rabid fan base here on TGS for a few years.

Jake, That was a real fun job. Ipe' dock on a fresh water lake, along with an ipe' pool deck surrounding a salt water pool. Who says you can't enjoy work?

We have been using Ready Seal stains for ~ 95% of our jobs after the first year in business. And that was 12 years ago. It has been a terrific stain for both my business and customers. The stain is still close to a perfect product. It has taken that long, but I do have a bone to pick. Forever, Ready Seal shipped in light but sturdy plastic 5 gal. buckets. These were perfect for contractors that use Decker or Deckster type HLVP sprayers. Cut a "cross" through the top with an exacto razor knife, stick in the two hoses, and pump away. Fast, no overspill, easy. This year, Ready Seal changed over to that standard, metal, friggin' spend 5 minutes prying the tabbed top off buckets. You can't get your hoses into the spout, it is too small in diameter. And I'm not cutting metal on the job site, clogging my filters or pump with shavings, and risking hand cuts bending the "cross" back to get your hoses in! And if you are going to use these metal monstrosities on your spray rig, you can't move them until a few gallons of stain have been used. Sure there is a simple solution. Keep a few of the old plastic buckets, pour the crappy metal bucket, but still terrific stain into them, and spray away. But that's time, labor cost, and carrying extra usable buckets on the truck. I kind of understand why they changed to metal. Yeah, some, maybe 10 - 15% of the plastic buckets "sucked in" or partially collapsed over time. But the stain itself was always just fine and I never had a split or leaking bucket in all those years. And we usually have 40 or 50 gallons in stock over the winter season. And these days, maybe metal buckets are less costly than plastic. Last year, Ready Seal changed all the names of their colors. OK, maybe "Light Oak" is more marketable than "Light Brown". Natural Cedar stayed the same and they couldn't come up with anything more sexy than "Clear" for no pigment. I'll live with it although I still get confused. But then again, I'm getting a bit long of tooth. So, rest in peace you wonderful plastic buckets. You'll be sorely missed by contractors. [ATTACH]20051[/ATTACH]

Shane, I wish! The inflow and return pump hoses are of small diameter and both could just fit through the bucket spouts. But the primary filter is installed on the end of the inflow hose and the filter diameter itself is larger than the spout.

Tony, I agree with Beth. Some of those floor boards appear to need replacement. We're currently working on a restoration similar to your job. New owners purchased the home in December of last year. The previous owners did not even clean the wood for I'm guessing 12 - 15 years! Built up dirt and petrified mold/mildew nearly as hard as coral in sections. Quite difficult to clean. 16 floor boards required replacement just to keep the deck safe for use. The balustrade top rail was very bad and is being fully replaced. The gazebo shakes are beyond their lifespan and will need to be torn off and redone, but we do not do any roofing. Oil will help but many of the shakes are nearly paper thin. You can save these neglected wood structures but it takes a lot of work. You have quite a project on your hands!

Charlie, You miss the point. Straight paraffin oil stains, such as R/S, maybe BGA and some flavors of TWP do not need the top of the 5 gal. buckets removed. That is because the stain does not have to be stirred to get heavier (I would assume) linseed oil and possible pigment/resin mixed back into the stain. Turn the 5'ers over in the morning, a quick shake at the job site, and you are good to go. Its a quality of R/S stain, no "paint like" stirring is needed. The old, terrific plastic R/S buckets had sealed tops, had to saw 5 or 6 cuts through the plastic to get them off. But you don't have to get them off. Plastic or crappy metal buckets, doesn't matter. Same stain, same process, turn 'em over for a bit, shake three times, and go. A lot of us use specialized stain HLVP sprayers. The "spout" entry in the old plastic R/S buckets or the "new" metal R/S buckets are the same small diameter, identical to A/C 5'ers. They are not big enough to get the "feed" hose with filter and "return" hose into the container. Back in the good old days, like the last 12 years, we were able to make a quick exacto knife cross cut through the plastic top, get both HLVP hoses into the bucket, and spray away. We can't do that now with metal tops. So much for progress.

Shane, A/C and now R/S appear to be the same design metal buckets. We can pour from the new R/S metal buckets fine. At least with R/S, you do not have to stir, just turn 'em over in the truck in the AM and a quick shake an' bake and spray or pour for detail work. We can't get the HVLP Deckster 2 hoses/filter through either metal spout. Point is, we now have to transfer R/S from the crappy "new" metal buckets into a usable plastic bucket to use on productive HVLP sprayers. Great point on the new "bio degradable" regulations for plastic. Another reason why R/S may have made the change. Regardless, it just makes operations a bit more time consuming and harder. I'm moving down to Texas and buying a firearm. The last refuge in America before the Federal nanny state regulates us into wimpering drones.

An additional note to Peirce if he's peeking here on TGS. Odd how writing a diatribe clears the mind. Instead of "Clear", how about "Champagne". Has a bit of cache to it and the stain in the bucket kind of looks like drinkable bubbly. And Natural Cedar could actually be changed to "Real Cedar". Kind of goes along with TV reality show mentality. Retail customers might actually believe that their neglected P/T wood could actually look like WRC and believe it when done. Creative marketing obscures truth. Pass it on to the new blood at corporate.

Mike, Stain the railing/spindles/fascia/posts first. Throw an old tarp/bedsheet/sheet of cardboard under the spindles to catch dripping stain, and darkening the floor boards underneath. Two advantages. First, you get the hard, "tedious" part of staining done first. After vertical wood, the horizontal deck floor and steps are a breeze. Second, any stain with linseed oil does film and if overapplied, will look a bit darker. You can fix this by applying a very light 2nd coat onto the floor and "feathering in" when you reach the darker areas under the balustrade. Congrats, you did a very nice job and the color looks great!

Tim, It could be Thompson's. They do make a solid colored oil based stain as well as a solid colored latex stain. Looks like an oil.

Shane, Yikes! That is a lot of wood. How do you clean/stain something that large, tanker truck with a fire hose? I hope you get some calm days in Houston, I know it can get a bit windy.

Shane, Kudos to you, helping keep TGS beyond the fray of personal/professional blow ups and spats. Moderators on this site should be valued for their help and guidance. God bless woodies.

Advantage is a large distributor of ipe'. These videos are kind of hilarious, how many families drive their mini SUV's on their decks, or attack it with an axe? Gotta' give them credit though, ipe' is often called "ironwood" and is possibly the strongest wood on our planet. See the mini SUV test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXvnEcI1G2E&feature=youtube_gdata And the axe trick: Goes to show, nonsense can be an effective sales tool.

Beth, I've got a request into youtube for car testing, but more importantly, videos of owners attacking their decks with an axe. I'm sure some poor soul will oblige. Times change. I remember when the internet was mostly useful.

In some ways wind is your friend in the wood business. It dries out the wood effectively so you can apply stain. If it is too windy to spray, break out the buckets and brushes. Takes longer and is a bit boring but teaches humility and makes one thankful that they are not a painter.

Mike, I doubt you will find anything much better in local big box or specialty paint stores. Ready Seal or Armstrong-Clark stains can be ordered on line and shipped to your doorstep.

Charlie, It is a great way and time to shake out equipment at the beginning of the season. Otherwise it will be late August before you have the chance. Of course, you're not married and don't have to put up with the Honey Do's.

John, Hate to break this to you, but that is not a deck. It's a dog kennel! Did you get that color from Beth? Hah! Must be leftover Cabot from some job. Ever notice Everett's collection of old stain at the farm? In today's world, would possibly qualify for a haz-mat site. Nice chocolate labs. Would probably have fun with my female Springer Spaniel.

Beth, Your job wins, hands down. There can be no uglier deck on God's green earth. Was this guy color blind? That is no where near "brick", its a nightmare mix of pink and a bit of purple. Just looking at the pictures, it makes me feel queasy, like a terminal case of sea sickness. His wife should have slit his throat and hired a good attorney. Any fair minded judge would have let her walk after seeing the evidence. This can't hold a candle to your entry, but it is one of the worst decks I have ever encountered. Minimum of 3 acrylic coats over clear western red cedar. ~ 50% of the cedar was rotten to the core, you could stick a finger through many of the 2 x 2's of the nicely designed balustrade. Foul acrylic was the only thing holding much of it together. Very sad, I advised the owner to hire a demolition company.

Ouch. Prime Minister Maggie Thatcher and mouseketeer Annette Funicello died today. Interesting bookends to a time long gone. In completely different ways, both were giants many years ago. Kind of sad, but time just marches on. As well it should.

John, Brick color wood sounds atrocious. Kind of like purple lipstick on a very attractive woman. Two toning looks great, but the maintenance cost is high. I don't puke any longer, learned my lessons years ago.

Beth, Its been years since Diamond Jim, Shane, Russell, you and Rod, and I have had a good tussle. That was fun in its day. I'll have to admit, when we had an ipe' deck, it was the 1st job of the year. Otherwise, it would not see service for months. Good way to shake out equipment and help. Mid 60's today and no freezing nights in the forecast. Time to purge the antifreeze and get back to work.

Guy, Lots of 80's music kind of sucks. Especially if you've been inadvertently exposed to it for 30 years. Kind of funny, my 20 somethings help like a lot of that era. Mention gut-check, had to do a Google search on the term "Buzz Killer". Don't know how old you are, but no matter. We all mark our time.[TABLE=width: 100%] [TR=class: tr1] [TD=class: td1, colspan: 2][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=colspan: 2][/TD] [/TR] [TR=class: tr2] [TD=class: td2, colspan: 2][/TD] [/TR] [TR=class: tr3] [TD=class: td3n1, width: 1%, align: right][/TD] [TD=class: td3n2][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

Beth, So, the shoemaker's kids do have shoes! Looks terrific, Saint Judy would be drooling over your plants.