RPetry

Adrian, Great prep, the PT came out almost white. Like how you wrapped the tree trunk! Neat deck design with the tree in the middle.

Diamond Jim, That is a fine suggestion. Never thought of that. Thanks. Jon, It has worked wonders on a few problem cedar and redwood jobs. Too bad they can't make it in powder form. AFAIK, it is a combination of various acids.

Pete, What are the temps and weather like down in your part of Texas? If the cedar is still high in moisture after 3 or 4 days of dry, decent weather, I think you are correct in it being new wood that was not kiln dried. Thats probably likely with fence wood. The best question. If I recall, Pete uses a lot of Ready Seal. Paraffin oils do require dry wood. That being said, on a cedar fence, you may want to give it a light spray of RS at 16% moisture content. The oil may force some remaining wood moisture to the interior and beyond normal oil penetration. It will definitely keep the wood from getting any wetter. Go back in a few days and apply a heavy RS staining. Hope Peirce does not read this. And it is a fence. Otherwise, Armstrong-Clark stain may be a good choice. I think their moisture content recommendation is 16% or below.

Everett, Thanks for the old pics. Can recognize Tom Vogel, looks like Rod Rodriguez, and John Tornabene in the 2nd picture. Was that one of the old get togethers you organized down at the Indian Chief or something restaurant? What year were they taken?

Hey Matt, nice hearing from you. Where have you been? Had my helper lightly sand the teak and apply the stain with a brush and lambswool. Took nearly a full day. RS light brown is my favorite on teak. With ipe', there is not too much of a difference in initial appearance with any of the RS colors. Ipe' just seems to have a mind of its own. Medium red is also our usual choice, but the customer wanted something a bit lighter. It will be interesting to see the wood in a week or two after the oil has had a chance to settle in. A-C worked well on my own ipe' deck. Next year, I'm going to commit sacrilege and apply the Defy water based hardwood stain as a full test. It certainly held its coloration much better than any of the other stains tested. We had a blast in Orlando, sorry you missed it. Too much fun with Jake, woke up with a wicked buzz for Thursday morning's golf outing! With a roaming beverage cart on the course, managed to avoid a bad hangover until the afternoon. Could not play worth a spit, but we had a lot of fun and laughs. The ***** convention and trade show was just terrific, well worth attending. Try to make it next year, the Jake Clark Woodies Open is becoming a legend in the making! Jim, Never thought of trying Ready Seal's #80 brightener, and I have some in stock. Next time. I'll have to order some MD80 to try, but hydrochloric acid still kind of scares me.

Diamond Jim, Does that mean those times are behind you? Hah! Man, I don't know. Hydrochloric actually kind of scares me, and phosphoric is another friggin' chem I have to keep track of. Doesn't seem to matter to customers with a stain over top. Guess its just exterior wood...

Jim, I mixed up a gal. of 10 oz. of oxalic, added 2 oz. of surfactant, and spot treated the dark areas. No help in this case. Started staining the ipe' deck today by hand, everything done with bristle brushes and lambswool pads. Forgot how much time is involved on the balustrade when not spraying! Weather permitting, we'll be done tomorrow. The teak came out very well. Both the ipe' deck and teak furniture stained with Ready Seal light brown color.

The wood cleaned up well. This custom built ipe' dining table has got to weigh 350 lbs.! As is often seen on older, used ipe' decks, the floor has some dark discoloration areas, note on the right of the pic between the table and siding, and also two areas on the left edge of the pic. I am not positive of the cause, though it may be from rusting metal furniture or items. I do know that the stains are in the ipe', they will not sand out and a "boosted" acid application does not seem to help. Does anyone have a method to brighten these problem areas? Thanks.

Michael, The picture was kind of dark. As long as you hit the wood with an acid, you are good to go. Congrats on your first wood job.

Michael, Good job for a first timer. Looks like the wood could use an acid (citric, oxalic, or combo thereof) application, that will brighten up the wood a lot. It will take you about 15 minutes and cost about $3 in chemicals.

Same here Trevor. To be honest, I'm a bit jealous, you are young and ambitious, I'm getting older and comfortable! You remind me a lot of when I started my first business in my mid 20's. Full of energy, *iss, and vinegar. Go get 'em, the sky is the limit!

Daniel, In general, its not that homeowners don't care, its that they don't know. As a professional, customers depend on your expertise and craftsmanship. Thats why they pay you.

Hey Carlos, I had shut down wood for the season just prior to Orlando, but came back up to good weather. The next three days are forecast to be sunny and in the mid to high 60's, almost an "Indian Summer". We've got three jobs to stain, and that will definitely wrap it up for 2009. I'll give you a call sometime late in the week, have to winterize equipment, clean out the truck, and organize inventory. Oh, and reconcile the books for the past 3 months!

Adrian, You are certainly a very accomplished guitarist. Very impressive! Who knew woodies could wail? Yeah, I remember when hair was cool. Back when I had some!

Roger, I use to really like the old Cabot's ATO on hardwoods. Unfortunately with the VOC changes here in the NE US, its nowhere near the product it once was. There is a fairly new water based product here called Defy for Hardwoods. I tested it last year on my own ipe', and it far outlasted good oils. If I get the chance, I'm going to do my complete ipe' deck with it before using on customer's wood.

Roger, Nice work, interesting that you have a bit of ipe' over the pond. These are terrific customers, they need constant servicing! Hard to read the can in the pic, what kind of stain are you using? Really like the glass/steel balustrade in the second set of pics. Very attractive.

Jon, I whole heartedly agree. When I met the customer for the estimate, I honestly tried to talk him out of a hard prep and staining. This ipe' was just gorgeous as is, with a very even and attractive silver sheen. The wood is 6 years old and has been kept clean. Perfect as is. Problem was that we had done a friend's ipe' and cedar deck last month. He saw the "look" and was sold. At least he understands the nearly constant effort and cost of keeping the stained look attractive.

Adrian, "Peace through Sonic Distortion". I like it. Real nice guitar work, and the band sounds tight. Is that you on lead?

Adrian, Maybe she has a HD washer and needs the exercise! People are funny. We were prepping a very large ipe' and teak furniture job today on a million + home. 3 new cars in the garage/drive, nice wheels, maybe 130K total. The wife is out mowing the lawn in speedo shorts and a t-shirt in 50 degree weather. With a push 21" Toro mower! Emptying the cuttings bag every 10 minutes. These customers appear to have more than enough for a lawn service, like 9 out of 10 in the neighborhood. I think its just for the exercise, this woman was really fit!

Lyle, That sanded redwood is just gorgeous. I love the look of western red cedar, but redwood is even better. Wish we had more than a handful of redwood jobs here in NJ. Nice work.

Ken, You did not say what kind of wood you were drum sanding. Pressure treated SYP will probably be OK. Western Red Cedar, on the other hand, may not stain very well due to "burnishing" or burning the wood. Some woods have natural extractives that will form an uneven film on or near the surface from a hard, heat generating sanding. This can make stain look uneven.

***** Convention - Wood Restoration Sessions Where: Marriott World Center, Orlando, Fl. When: 1st session: Friday, October 23, 4:00 - 4:50 PM 2nd session: Saturday, October 24, 2:10 - 2:55 PM Why: Exterior wood restoration is a growing specialty field in the pressure washing industry. Existing wood contractors, as well as new contractors and those looking to add wood restoration to their existing services will learn both the basics and operational tips to help your business. Topics include: equipment chemicals wood identification cleaning, stripping, and brightening stains and staining customer service The ***** would like to thank the following individuals and companies for their support and sponsorship. Peirce Fitchett, Ready Seal Pete Marentay, Sun Brite Supply Mathew Johnson, Pressure Washing Services Class participants will be eligible to win the following prizes: 10 lbs. Rip It! Sodium Hydroxide Wood Stripper - courtesy of Sun Brite Supply 10 lbs. Wood Bright Sodium Percarbonate Wood Cleaner - courtesy of ACR Products 10 lbs. ESI Citralic Wood Neutralizer/Brightener - courtesy of The Sealer Store 5 gals. Armstrong - Clark Wood Stain - courtesy of Armstrong - Clark 5 gals Ready Seal Wood Stain - courtesy of Ready Seal Shipping of all prizes and stain color selection is included.

Just got back home from Orlando last night. Took a few days R&R after the convention. Thanks to everyone, from the ***** committees and organizers, speakers, the many vendors, and especially the membership for making this first convention an event that was way beyond expectation. In so many ways, this was just a terrific convention. There is no doubt that the ***** is for real. Congratulations to all. My apologies to the 4 or 5 attendees of the wood restoration session #2 that did not receive printed copies of the presentation. I was not expecting a crowd of 30 the 2nd day. Please do not hesitate to shoot me an email and I'll forward you the file in MS Word format. I think I can vouch for most that were in Orlando. "We can't wait until next year!".

Any product named Petri-Wood has got to be good.

Thanks for the accolades, Jeff, John, and Jake. Hey, the three "J's"! After 8 years I've learned a little bit about restoring exterior wood. But there are others, some that are active here on TGS, that do extraordinary work, and have been in business far longer than Windsor WoodCare. I've learned a lot from others, and this web site has been a valuable resource over the years. Now, I hope I can transfer some of this wood knowledge into a worthwhile presentation! A question was raised over at PT State that may be of interest to attendees. There are 2 sessions, one each on Friday and Saturday afternoons. Each session will be unique, with different subjects and prizes. With only a cumulative total time allotted of 1.5 hours, we can only quickly cover some ground. If there is further interest outside of the sessions, I would be glad to host an informal get together for sharing info after scheduled convention hours. In particular, if there are other established "woodies" that want to participate, that would be great.