RPetry

Rod, Ouch! The EPA is now shoving E15 down our throats? Hope NJ has the cahones to tell 'em to take a hike. Corn production taken out of the world market for ethanol is spiking food prices around the world. E10 has been known to cause some problems, particularly in small and older gasoline engines. E15 use problems would be more pervasive. From what little I know, relatively fresh gasoline is recommended if used within a few months time. There are stabilizers on the market that help with stored E10 gas in containers or fuel tanks. Sta-Bil is a less expensive, popular brand. Star Tron Enzyme Fuel Treatment is a bit more expensive, but probably worth it for high performance engines. For better info, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_ethanol_fuel_mixtures Note the graphic posted here in the link provided.

John, Depends on if it is an oil or waterbased solid stain. In either case for vertical wood, just stain away. Horizontal wood, be careful. If its an oil stain, wait for shade or if in a rush, cool the wood down with water, blow and or squeegee off, and let dry for a little while. Take a moisture reading and if reasonable, slop the stuff on. Waterbase solid stain, who cares?

Shane, Oh boy. Sorry. I did not know that Daniel was a forum leader. TGS has been the premier website for good information on exterior wood care. Pardon the ruckus. All my comments still apply.

Certainly not a direct correlation, but consider Switzerland. In WW1 and WW2, the country was able to remain neutral, and out of action. Much may be due to topography and bankers to the warring powers, but compared to the rest of Europe through two continental wars, Switzerland remained an island of serenity in the mist of horrendous carnage and destruction. Consider the fact that the country is armed to the teeth. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_Switzerland Even though fully armed with fire power, the Swiss are able to keep gun related crime and violence to a minimum. A quote from the above link. "The annual rate of homicide by any means per 100,000 population was 0.70, which is one of the lowest in the world.[16] The annual rate of homicide by guns per 100,000 population was 0.52." The U.S. does not have a "gun" problem. We have a social problem.

Patrick, There are a ton of different, many obscure hardwoods now being used in deck construction. Many here in the Eastern U.S. are from South America, not Africa. Ipe' is quite well established and popular. It is an extremely hard, dense wood from South America that does not require oil maintenance to keep its integrity or lifetime for exterior use. Whatever your customer's wood is, a simple percarb cleaning followed by a light oxalic or citric acid brightening, might be the best method. These two pictures are of ipe', greyed out with a bit of dirt and mildew, and after cleaning/brightening with percarb/citric.

Daniel, I will admit to not being one of your fans. However, if you wish to start slinging mud, I'd suggest private messages. It is classless and a bit disrespectful to TGS, members, and the general public to post expletives on an open forum. Your two statements shown above, written by you in this thread, are difficult to reconcile. You asked a question about matching Cabot's Mahogany Flame pigment. I offered the best alternative that I am aware of. Then you should know the pigments. Call the manufacturer, or Scott Paul, who sells a lot of TWP, maybe they can help. If available, order some sample cans.

Daniel, Peirce Fitchette, the sales guy at Ready Seal, appreciates that.

Steven, That is the only major downside to using Ready Seal stains. For a 1st time customer, ie: strip, percarb. or bleach, it is a waiting game until the wood is dry enough to apply the oil. After that, maintenance is a breeze. There is still oil in the wood after 2 - 3 - even 4 years, that after a light cleaning, it does dry out fast.

In 12 or 13 years, I have never seen Ready Seal "lap" or "flash" dry. Hot, cold, ipe' or beat up PT. It is one of the qualities of of a true, pariffin oil based stain. Anyone have a moisture meter and know how to use one?

Travis, You are welcome.

Just applied 8 gals of RS Redwood on mahogany and cedar today in NJ. Temps were mid 90's, maybe 70% humidity, and full sun after 9:00 AM. Went into the wood just fine, and will last another 2 years before servicing the horizontal wood. Try that, in those conditions, with any linseed oil based stain. A "flash" dry and lapping nightmare.

A near absolute match. No matter, after all these years, the OP is still playing with different stains. Jesus Christo, we've been using the same stain for about 12 years on all species of wood. If you prep and stain correctly, it really is not that difficult. Well, except for weather, hard, hot labor, and scheduling jobs. Throw in a multiple water based acrylic mess, or better yet, a poly/urethane, and it does get interesting. But that is what makes the business fun and challenging.

At least in the woodie world, Sodium Hydroxide, Bleach, and Sodium Percarb are understood with no confusion. SB for sodium percarb(onate) does not compute.

I wrote the following email, with the attached pictures, to Peirce Fitchette, the National Sales Manager for Ready Seal stains. ______________________________________ Peirce, Here is a deck we prepped for Ready Seal stain. Think the wood will look terrific with your Clear stain? After all, the wood is only about 30 yrs. old, has never been serviced, and has more peaks and valleys than the Rocky Mountains. There was a "crust" on top of some of the wood, almost like marine coral. We were able to sand that off with a 10 grit belt unit and 8 man-hours of labor. I think it was worth it although payroll will be difficult this week. The customer finally bought a real kitchen cheese grater instead of using the splintered boards to prepare her favorite spaghetti topping. She's kind of fat, and just loves to eat pasta. Her dog died from trying to eat the old cheese out of the floor boards. Poor old guy bled to death. His swollen tongue looked like an overcrowded pin cushion from all the splinters stuck right through. We finally got the blood out of the wood using NaOH, 12% bleach, ACR's special "Voodoo" mix, and a lot of acetone. His name was Porcupine. From what I understand, he was a very nice, friendly dog. With no friends or living relatives, she is devastated. That is why she called us in. To restore her deck in memory of Porcupine. During the estimate, I sympathized with her loss, and helpfully suggested that she purchase a new puppy. Maybe name him "Cutter". Do you think I was a bit too familiar? After all, I do have empathy for my customers. After the initial shock of seeing me in the flesh, they seem to like me as I'm very friendly. Although I must admit I've had a few requests over the years to wear a full face mask while working on their property. Something about the neighbor's.... I took a mail order Wolman's course many years ago that has served me well in the wood restoration business. I'll never forget the main point, The customer is always right and you are an idiot if you do not buy our products. Anyway, she really wants a clear stain so the wood looks natural. What do you think? Rick ______________________________ So now, after emails and telephone calls, Peirce will not get back to me with professional advice. Its not like I'm some stranger. We've broken bread together with my dogs, but I helpfully gave him a plate on a table with a chair. I must admit Peirce looked at me with a strange expression, as I groveled gruel with my own bowl down on the floor with my 2 best friends. And I do not think he enjoyed the food. Made some snide remark about being "raised with wolves". So any helpful advice from members of TGS? Can I use Clear Ready Seal on this job? Get a facelift from Joan Rivers best friend? Stock up on better dog names? Learn to eat with a fork and spoon? Does Peirce think I'm unworthy of customer service? Please help me.

Care to define SH and SB?

Jake's Armstrong-Clark Mahogany color stain is almost a dead ringer in pigment to the old Cabot's ATO Mahogany Flame.

Hi Rob, It really depends on the job. Most exterior wood here in NJ is not that bad with mold and mildew. That being the case, we use sodium percarbonate wood cleaners if there is no old stain present, and sodium hydroxide wood strippers if there is stain on the wood. Funny thing, I did a bit of novice research years ago. Final result was that sodium percarbonate is actually more effective in killing mold/mildew than sodium hydroxide. We do not downstream or clean houses, so I have no idea of your ratios or % of sodium hypochlorite. For exterior wood that requires it, a 1.5% bleach mix is usually sufficient to kill growth, and does no harm to the wood. In a few extreme cases, we have strengthened that mix to up to 3%. That is a last resort, for "barely restore worthy wood" as bleach at that strength is rather hard on wood! Makes it look like Casper the Ghost. For crevices and tough areas, just flood with the mix and allow to dwell for a while.

Gene, I am doing just fine. Between the stain name changes and the foul metal buckets, I think Lewisville, Tx. corporate and the Weatherford, Tx. plant need the help. At least in primary spelling. Redwood spelled Red Wood. Shameful! Beth, OK. That sounds good. Don't know much about "girl" things these days, I'm getting old. Too bad we did not meet 40 yrs. ago, now that could have been some serious fireworks! Specially with Barb V. in the mix! Hah, woodie dreams of what could have been ... Luv luv you too, Rick

Beth, Short answer is no. Although at times, I do remember those days with fond memories. The memories are probably better than those days. I do not have a clue as to what "wuv" means. And suspect that it is beyond my limited comprehension. For any actually wasting their time on this thread. Its a "GAG" on Peirce and Ready Seal. Please don't ask.

John, Clarified. The wood will be a little bit darker when clear is 1st applied, but it does not last long. Might as well rename the RS stain as "Grey Away", as that is what the wood will look like after some time in the sun. A correction. After at least 13 years, and I'm sure many more, RS decided to change the names of most of their pigments. So Diamond Jim, in all correctness, the contractor favorite for the right woods, "Light Brown" is now "Light Oak". Even Peirce, a very old hand with RS, gets a bit confused with these "new" colors. They are not new, its the same pigments as always, almost forever! I *****ed and moaned to Peirce for years on the old name "Medium Red". Customers heard "like the old picnic tables". The stain is more brown than red. Never a tough sell, put a sample down or refer them to the website photos and they are sold. A terrific color for many woods. It is ~ 75% of our stain sales. So now they rename the stain in marketing, website, etc. as "Redwood". Ok, no foul, but nobody knows what the wood, redwood, is here in the Northeast, Texas, or anywhere else aside for California. Ok, so what. It's a great stain for many jobs. The first shipment of 5'ers in the friggin' absurd metal buckets come in this spring. The labels, clear as day, announce to the world that you have purchased "RED WOOD". That is not a wood stain pigment, it is a 2nd grader's description of an ugly picnic table. Do any of the marketing geniuses in Texas know anything about wood or at the least, proper spelling? Rant off.

Patrick, Careful with the airless. RS is a very thin consistency stain, close to water. Dial down the pressure and try to get bigger droplets coming out of the tip. With a little wind, a RS fog may travel to the next county! If you continue with wood, consider an HVLP sprayer unit such as the "Decker". The PumpTec pumps are perfect for applying RS. Don't go cheap on 1st application on a new job. Give the horizontal wood enough oil so it takes awhile to penetrate. With most woods, we apply 2 separate stainings on the horizontal wood for an initial application. Figure about 40% less RS needed for typical 2 year maintenance staining.

John, I'm not sure I understand. These are new decks that already have been stained, and they want a clear over top to help protect the first initial stain? If so, I do not think that will work very well. The pigment in the initial stain will weather and fade out, clear top coat or not. Otherwise, just clear Ready Seal or other clear stains will allow the wood to grey out, fairly quickly on wood with a lot of sun exposure. I hope they like grey wood! Diamond Jim likes to walk on the wild side. Actually, this is a very attractive mix for clean, newer wood, particularly Western Red Cedar and some other exotic cedars.

1. BTN BFSII. Originally a Back to Nature product, sold to Sunnyside Corp. a few years ago. 2. PPG Duraprep 220 3. Eaco Chem Stripper Cream. Highly caustic, will strip flesh to the bone.

Patrick, I have no idea what "regular acrylic floor strippers" are. We only work on exterior wood. We primarily use 3 different products for exterior acrylic stripping. 2 out of the 3 are more benign (gentle) to the wood than hot sodium hydroxide mixes. The most costly is north of $60/gallon and you can wash your hands in it. Does no damage to the wood. Or your skin.

Patrick, Mix up a quart or so of sodium hydroxide based wood stripper. Use an equivalent strength of say 8 to 10 oz. per gal. of water. Put in a spray bottle for testing. It has a long shelf life. If the stain starts to emulsify within a few minutes, it is probably an oil. Caveat, there are some water based finishes that can be removed with strong, hot mix sodium hydroxide strippers, especially if additives such as surfactant and "boosters" are used.