RPetry

Eric, Was tied up with office business for awhile, but added to my post above. You may want to re - read it...

Eric, When I first started out, used a Binks commercial airless to apply Wolman's F&P stain. As with most if not all linseed oil based wood stains, it had to be back brushed. We now use a paraffinic oil stain, applied with an HVLP sprayer. On PT wood, it does not need to be back brushed, although we often do. Cedar, redwood, mahoganies, ipe' etc. do get a quick brushing in. Fences, whether white cedar, western red cedar, or PT pine do not get hand brushed when using paraffinic oil stains. With linseed oil stains, you probably should brush out a fence. It is not difficult to spray and back brush if working alone. I did it my first two years and I'm old! For deck floors, 2 options. First is to purchase a 2.5 of 3 foot extension that attaches to the airless gun. This allows you to walk upright and spray. Have a 6" or if you can find them, 8" natural bristle brush with a screw in socket on the top of the handle. Attach a screw in pole to the brush top and away you go! Spray a few boards, grab the pole with the brush, and give the wood a quick going over. The other option is to do the deck floor using knee pads. No extensions or poles needed, just your normal airless gun and a large bristle brush. Spray with one hand, brush with the other. This is actually faster and does a better job, ie: you can really get the board gaps, and can actually fly through wood. Just have to get use to "walking" on your knees.

Beth, One customer owns 36 pieces of teak? That is a fortune in wood!

Charlie, The original application of A-C was one coat.

Charlie, I do not know, but can ask. Any idea what started the truck fire? None of us want to experience that disaster.

Kevin, My mentor friend started an exterior wood restoration business back in the early to mid '70's. Grew to 20+ locations over time. Nothing wrong with a drying oil on ipe'. Just have to be sure it is not over applied. I am now at a tad over 8 months of A-C rustic brown on my own ipe'. Has held its pigment very well, and if I could ever get time to clean it, would look fine. As with any decent oil without garbage additives, it will strip easily. I'll check back in on the appropriate thread when the stain gets to the one year mark. Caveat. The Defy waterbase stain for hardwoods looks the best at this point from the samples I applied to my ipe' deck. But it is waterbased. A-C is the best of the oils.

Ken, No doubt on the extreme environment! At 5800 ft. of altitude, there is a lot more UV. My friend also gets a ton of snow in his area in the winter. He told me stories of actually cleaning and staining decks while there was still 4 ft. of snow on the ground! The equivalent of 2 seasons here is plausible. The Southwest has a terrific climate. Went to school in Denver and remember laying out in the sun with my girlfriend in a bikini (her, not me!) in February, with snow on the ground, getting a nice tan. I agree on the quality of AC. It has held up very well on my own ipe' deck. We tried it last year on a cedar job with good results and may be using it on a cedar job later this year. But I'm still a hardcore paraffin oil advocate.

Second email and pictures. ______________________________________ Rick Here are a couple of photos of the recoated Cedar Semi deck. It looks a little opaque because of the amount of prduct absorbed by this 12 year old deck. You can quote these emails (or portions of them, as you wish) "The oldest woodie in the world"

Diamond Jim, You have that right. Wolwomen are God's gift to man. Otherwise, I am at a loss for words.

Jon, Actually, Greg R. in the midwest has a house, if I remember correctly, in the running! We did a cedar deck job last year with A-C rustic brown. Had a helper clean and stain an old SYP picnic table as a freebe. One coat, I think it looks great.

Mike, As a guess from your pics, about $900. Dan, I do not think Mike is going to give up his "day job". I offered and all he wants to do is go to the beach!

Beth, Love that pirate flag and hot tub. With a case of brews and the wink of an eye, we could have a real party on your deck. Can you get rid of Rod for a weekend? Hah!

Scott, Real cute kids. They are reason enough to take Sunday off. I only have 2 dogs and a wife ...

Mike, That is the nicest looking homeowner staining on a hardwood that I have seen. Consumers often do not prep correctly and tend to over apply stain on ipe', resulting in a blotchy finish. Congrats, fine job!

Scott, Nice backyard! The hammock looks inviting. Friday was our day off, pouring rain all day long. Yesterday and today were dry so we put in 3/4 days this weekend. With all the spring rain, gotta' mow hay while the sun shines.

Mike, I think you did a terrific job, your ipe' looks great. Need employment for the summer in NJ? The attached 2 pics are of an ipe', mahogany, and cedar job we finished prepping and sanding this morning. Penofin and some foul solid SW Deckscapes was stripped from the wood. The pics are the ipe' floor after a light RO 60 grit sanding. Have never used Penofin, but this subject came up the other day on another board. Not sure if non-members can view, but here is the link: Pennofin woes Curious, I went to the Penofin website page for their "Hardwood" stain and found the following instructions verbatim: Maintenance A maintenance coat of Hardwood Finish should be applied within 3-6 months after the initial application or as soon as oil looks depleted. The next maintenance coat should be done again in approximately 10-12 months or whenever oil looks depleted. Over time, the wood fibers become fully protected and the maintenance will become less frequent. In Penofin's own words using their stain, hardwoods should be cleaned and stained three separate times in the first year! How many consumers or contractors are following that costly and rigorous schedule? There is no reason why your ipe' cannot wait a week or more before staining. Just blow off and go. We will be staining the deck in the picture with Ready Seal medium red.

I'm with Ken on this. Sand, and it will be grand! If you have a random orbital, get some 60 grit paper and have a go at it. Your deck is not large and it should not take too much effort or time. Better pick up a pair of knee pads. If you are going to be using Penofin for hardwoods again, check out their website. Per their recommendations, you have just bought into 2 more cleanings and staining in the next year.

Campfire coffee. Boil some water, throw a few hands of ground coffee in the pot, let steep, pour slowly. Nothing beats a cup of java on a cool morning out in the middle of nowhere. There is a reason Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee is so expensive. Yrs. ago, my wife and I traveled through the region. Pretty remote, very mountainous, and a fairly small geographical area. Juan Valdez's donkey would have a hard time negotiating the steep slopes.

Daniel, I think Diamond Jim was suggesting calling the manufacturer, not a distributor. If Jake Clark will talk to me, I'm nearly certain he will talk to you.

Yes. It is a rare job where we have to do any kind of plastic or tarp masking.

Dan, It is a matter of speed and efficiency. Cutting in is done first at one shot with a worker(s) with a bristle brush and knee pads. Then, the remainder of the floor is sprayed and quickly backbrushed. We use Ready Seal stains almost exclusively. Ready Seal does not lap.

Relearned that rule last year. AC will lap. Had not used a linseed oil based stain for years. Left my best helper on our first AC job to stain, while I did estimates. This was entirely my fault. He cut in by the house by hand, prior to using an HVLP to spray and backbrush the floor. This is what we always do using a paraffinic oil stain and I did not think to instruct him otherwise. See the first pic. Easily and mostly fixed. A second application evened the lapping out, although you can still notice a slight color line.

Ken, For AC Rustic Brown on 5 yr. old knotty cedar, ~ 175 sq. ft. per gal.

Thats not work, its fun! Real nice job on the teak, Mike.