buck1s

Thanks, Rick. Now convince my wife :)

Thanks, Shane. So, any stain brand recs? TWP, Armstrong-Clark, ReadySeal? I've read that while you might choose one stain for new wood, you might not use it for older, weathered wood.

Shane, the covered porch is 12x10 with T&G mahogany. The exposed deck above is 7x10 5/4 mahogany decking. And let me just add that these two types of mahogany seem nothing alike. But I've learned lots of stuff can get lumped under "mahogany". All brand new. Chris

Thanks, Beth, Shane, and Adrian. Looking forward to learning a lot. :)

Thanks. I figured that I missed something.

Sure thing. But they should put that in the Forum Rules section. As it is, a signature is only required for people in the biz. Unless I'm missing that fact that I shouldn't be posting here if I'm not in the biz. Haha...

Complete amateur here. Just about finished with some adds to the house and want to start out right by choosing a good stain. From what I've read, there seem to be a few good options - AC, ReadySeal, maybe Defy? As none of these are available retail locally (Charlottesville, Va) that I know of, I'm spending more time agonizing over stain/color choices since I only want to buy once. I was able to go online get a sample pack from Woodrich of their hardwood wiping stain. Following the directions that came with the samples, I wasn't able to see much color difference between the samples on my test mahogany. It makes it impossible to commit to that brand, let alone a specific color, if I can't tell what's what. I was also interested in the AC Hardwood Stain in Amber color. Anyone tried that? All advice would be appreciated, including what if anything I need to do to prep a new deck. Thanks, Chris