hotroddr32

Hi! New Member here. My wife and I picked up a Rainbow Sun Castle playset off craigslist a couple of weeks ago, and I've got it taken apart, getting ready to refinish it. The owners before us put some kind of half-done water-based stain on it, leaving it pretty ugly. I have pressure-washed and stripped as much of the old stain as possible, and plan to sand and stain in the next 2 weeks. What more do I need to do to get a good bond? I've already hit it in a few spots with some 60 grit, and am happy with what I see so far. I only gave 325 bucks for this set, so I want to do this right. I have no experience with staining, much less with staining redwood, so I cherish your opinions. I'm torn on brand of stain too. I'm thinking Olympic Max, Superdeck, or a Cabot semi-solid. Thanks for any help you may give.

I have liked some of the cabots colors in the semi-trans. Will it hold up ok? I plan to finish my deck with the same, so this is much larger project than just the playset. Thanks VERY much!

I had to replace several pieces of the redwood that was on the ground, and due to the inability to find redwood around here, I replaced these pieces with PTP. My next step will be to apply a solid stain to the playset and then turn the girls loose on it. Question... I need to hide the differences in the woods. Which brand makes the best semi-solid or solid stain that will look the best for me?

Gotcha. Thats what I thought, just wanted to make sure I was on the same page. I got several pieces sanded today, it looks good. When I finish sanding, will I still need to rinse with the brightner, or will blowing off with a air hose and wipe down be good enough before staining.

By saying "over 80 grit", do you mean not to use a finer paper than 80 grit right? Forgive my "rookieness", when I ask why that matters?