acegot

Here is a job I did last month. As you'll see multi-level 2500 sq.ft 200 lineal ft. railing. AC cedar tone on clear heart Redwood.

Stick with the circular, hand belt sander is a waste of time. I'll have to order a box & try them, if theyre sold with floor sanding supplies, its probably pretty good, that sell price is good, the 3-m 60gris $75. box of 50

I talked about this sander setup yesterday on thread Belt sander, I posted a couple of pics of setup, same type as Greg talks about just different brand.

Flood reccomends to seal new wood right away with their "seasonite" then the following year then put one of their reg, wood sealers on it. Go to their site & look it up. They say to do that so the wood doesnt dry out too quick, I believe. I seal all new wood right away, drying out to quick from what Ive observed can lewad to early cracking or splitting.

Here is pic of high speed circular sanding set up, this with 36 grit or 60 grit will out sand a belt sander of equal any day of the week. 10 times faster at least. you can get most of the way under railings also if not all the way. I use all 3-m 8" pads & paper, found at autobody supply stores. Good quality paper lasts long.

My rail pic is redwood. I said that to protect the rail from the stripper when doing floor. There is no reason to use stripper on the new wood. If you thin down the stripper to use it as prep for the new wood you shouldnt have a problem. I use F-18 at 2 to 3 oz. per gallon for a cleaner & it hasnt affected the black spindles.Then I seal, just get some sealer on the spindles & buff them dry & they stay nice and shiney.

I have a Portacable big monster, must be 4x24, its heavy but thats what you want for like a deck floor. I also havea rigid 3x21 or 24, alot lighter & less powerful, good sander but not for h-duty sanging like a deck floor. If i'm going to sand a small area with hand sanders, I would use high speed circular, much faster than a belt sander, then go back over real quick with the ro. I mainly use my belt sanders to shave stuff when I'm doing repair work or building a deck. Whats better & faster for finish sanding over a ro is a 1/2 sheet orbital. I have 3 I like the milwaukee the best. Milwaukee 6010-6 1/2 Sheet Orbital Sander

Like Ken said, you can get new or used at rental yards, & also as Ken said, they are easy to use! Thety are pretty inexpensive to rent for 4hrs or a day.

Technically, its an orbital, round pads are ro, square or rectangular pads are orbital. you can get from like 16 grit to 100 grit paper & sanding screens from 60 to around 220grit. The brush goes around the bottom of the pad to contain dust for dust collection.

If you could get some wood samples that would be better. Get a new piece & an older one & do a brush out & see. I'm not a PTP expert, I dont know how the pigments soak in. What you mentioned could work, or a variation. Some times all I do is add a little raw umber(dark dark brown) or a little black, to darken a little which sometimes is better tha adding more of the same pignent. In your case you could possible add a little more semi-cedar & rustic brown(makes a great tint on toners) or just the r-brown added to the cedar toner. Wish I were there, I like stuff like that.

If the deck is only 4 yrs. old a stand up RO 12x18 should work. Correct me if I'm wrong, are you guys talking about hand Ro's & belt sanders?.

The spring rush isnt as busy as last spring. How about you?

Looking good, What sealer you using on decks.

Decker, To protect the rails, throw a 9x12 canvas dropcloth over the rail & move it as you go. Those balusters are usually powder coated, very durable finish. Your plan sounds pretty good except maybe the bleach on the railing, unless you mean wood bleach(percarb). Then just use darker color on railing & tell the customer you cant match exactly, theyre' goingto get some two tone no matter what. Or you could use AC cedar-semi-trans on the deck & AC super-cedar ( has more pigment) on the rails, or AC Cedar semi with a little AC rustic brown added to it for the rails. See Pro Sealer Store for mat. colors. Here is a pic of a deck I built. Does their railing look like that.

Especially if its covered, dont know if it is or not. You can use the AC in 2 to 3 days of nice warm weather.

Thanks Ken, They call me Woody Sensei! LOL

If they really want the best chance of getting it to match: Restore the whole deck and rail as you normally would. (no sealer/stain) wait 4to 8 weeks (depending on how wet the new PTP is) then sand the whole deck, old part heavier sand, new wood lighter sand, then seal/stain. Put a darker color on the new wood(about 2 shades), it should blend pretty well. Look at the job 2 weeks later & be proud of your efforts. Here is a job I did like that. The deck was 16 years old, replaced a bunch of boards, sanded the whole thing & applied 2-3 shades darker color on the new wood. There was still a dfference, the new boards should darken & the old boards will lighten when cured. Went back in 2 weeks when cured. Wa lah! Last 2 pics are after 2 weeks.

For decking its 2x6. The good stuff in 2x6 is $3. -$3.30 lin. ft., not cheap. What's clear PTP there?

I know this isnt a builder forum. Wanted to show Rick a couple other decks I built. I do all the work myself with a helper or 2 when busiest. The upper deck pic is Redwood with Trex Brasila. I will be using AC cedar tone on the bottom deck in a couple weeks. Deck Collage.pdf

Scott, Jobs look great! Is one of TWP water-based products called Storm Shield?

Sorry Guys & Gals, this a picture I just took out my office window this morning before going out to work.

Great job Rick, Isnt awesome how you can take an old RW deck & make it look great! Here is a small RW deck I built Heart "B" RW with RS light brown.

The first redwood pic(3picseries) is ac cedar tone, The Wrc pics(2pic series) is Ac natural with Menco cinnamon tint added) & the last knotty redwood pic is TWP 500 light cedar. That deck is 22 years old. Here is a before pic, I did some repairs on it, notice step is different configuration.

[ATTACH]12352[/ATTACH] Actually, most of the redwood, over half that I see, is con-heart(with knots) since the quit cutting old growth . Rick, here is "knotty" picture for you.

I do alot of redwood with knots & they look great, great color & charactor. Here is WRC with no knots though. Tony, another for you & "no knot" lovers.