YVPW

Jon, to get AC to be equal with Baker's, probably Ready Seal also, you would need to cut the Semi's in half with a Toner. To get a color close to Super Cedar Baker's you could do AC Redwood Toner mixed with Cedar Semi something like that. I have made up sample boards of all these combinations and found that the AC Semi would have to be cut in half with the toner to create the same look of Baker's.

Jon, put Sansin PTL(which is designed for new PT wood) I would bet money it will outlast all of them, and I love Baker's(which is of course based on the TWP 200 series, those products are the most mildew resistant you will find). I do different than Ken on application with Baker's though. I saturate the floor the first time and then saturate it again, and then I do a light third coat if needed. It will finish darker than what his has at first but will lighten up in 2 or 3 weeks. This way you get more oil in the wood. By the way Baker's doesn't finish opaque at all, it shows all the grain of the wood, but yet hides blemishes, and finishes very even.TWP 200 series says to add about 30% spirits to there product if using on a deck, of course you wouldn't have to if the deck was very old. You know that Sansin has the best transoxide pigment money can buy in there stains. You would get 2 years on the first application of brand new PT wood. I don't know why others don't think there's a transparent or semi that will last more than a year on new PT wood. I've had a sample board on a hot tin roof in 100% full sun since around April of last year and it still looks good, and it was on a new 5/4 pt deck board. Rick, you should use the Sansin PTL on your ipe, it wouldn't surprise me to see it hang with the Defy.

Sansin PTL will last more than one year on new PT. I've got it on a new piece of pt that's been sitting in full sun over a year and there isn't any change in color. If it were me that's the stain I would go with on what you have. Prettier than either RS or AC on new wood.

Jon have you used Sansin PTL or SDF on a deck? What about you Beth? I have it on test boards, have had the boards in full sun on a hot tin roof for over a year and the color is like the day I put it on. It's waterborne alkyd and it applies like a water based product, but it brushes out very smooth. I could tell it wouldn't be as contractor friendly since you would have to apply it out of direct sun etc. I have a deck down the road from me I'm gonna use it on. I'll have to give a report when I do.

I agree with Ken and Jon. I think AC is in the right direction with the blend. I think it depends on the type of decks you work on also. For me I restore old PT decks a lot, and if you're using a straight transoxide finish it's not gonna finish as pretty as Baker's or AC. I would like everyone to think for a moment, I've been reading and posting on this board for over 3 years. I don't ever remember a time were someone said TWP wasn't a good product. I've personally never used it, but I think it speaks volumes about the product. I think what it comes down to for some is that their competition uses it because it is available at some paint stores, and they want something else so they can be different to get an "advantage" in selling to customers. But in all honesty they are the best products on the market. Scott Paul's deck should convince you of that. That's why I love Baker's Gray Away it has almost everything I love in a stain. If it had some of the transoxide pigment blend that AC had then it would be even better.

I'm gonna use an oil based stain no matter what they say. I'll bet Jim could make one as good as or better than any on the market if he wanted too. I've already been in the thought process about how to get around it.

You are a good man Jon. I love to read your post's, very valuable insight.

I can't speak for Charlie, but most people just knock off the fuzzies with an Osborn or defelting pad. Random orbit, orbital, belt would all be in the sanding category. A true sanding of a deck is something most customers won't pay the price for. I personally use an Osborn and buff everything on a deck, they are more aggressive than a defelting pad and actually tend to give the wood somewhat of a sanded look.

Yeah I knew they were related. I was thinking of linseed oil in reference to what's in AC.

Beth you're right it's the oil that brings it out, and the transoxide's since there more transparent don't cover it up. That's why I always used Baker's on the old decks it always made them look good as it does any deck new or old. Sanding back down to light wood would fix the wood so that you could use a transoxide finish on it, but not many customers are willing to pay the price for that. Beth Wood Tux didn't have linseed oil in it, did it? I thought it was an alkyd. The AC has linseed oil in it.

Ken nailed it! Charlie you should have used the cedar semi on that job and it would have looked much better.

I haven't went and taken the pics of the vineyard I was gonna enter in the contest. There were 3 parts to the job a shop, well house, and tasting room. The shop and tasting room were stripped. The tasting room new. The tasting room looks great. Trying to match 3 year old stripped wood to new wood with AC didn't match up as well as I thought it would. The 3 year old wood turned out too dark for my taste. I dunno I don't think I''ll use that much of it again. To be honest I don't care to win the stain. I've thought about it alot and what I've concluded is why in the world should I pay twice the amount of money for a stain that doesn't finish as pretty and isn't as good for the wood, and doesn't last any longer? I like the AC, and I think it's a great substitute if you can't get BGA shipped to your area. I wish I hadn't of used AC on this vineyard, I did it only for the sake of the contest. If it were TWP 200 series that we could win then I might reconsider entering. I will still post some pics of that job when I get a chance to go by.

I agree with everything Tony posted, very good advice!

Scott is the contest still gonna end on the 31st? I wish it could wait till a week after that. I think I have the winner, over 5,000sq.ft of white cedar siding at one job site(a vineyard).

On the newer decks, decks that aren't maybe a month or 2 old I just use chem with a no pressure wash. If there a year old, the chems and higher pressure has worked for me for the most part. I buff everything on every deck except the newest. I have saw what Jim described in a few small areas while buffing. The sun doesn't gray out the wood evenly with decks that have rails and areas of shade.

On newer PT decks as long as you have your chemicals right just increase your pressure and that will fix the problem on these kind of decks

There's a local guy around here that uses it. Strips and cleans wood with it then doesn't brighten, lol. Never need to clean a roof with it. There are far better products for wood at a lot cheaper price.

Sounds like they just replaced some of the iron oxides(clay pigment) with transparent iron oxides which are about 4 times the price and are "supposed" to last longer. To me with us who restore wood, straight transparent iron oxides don't finish out as well as the blend specifically the semi-trans. On new wood now that's when I would go with straight trans-oxide's.

Sansin PTL will work on new PT wood, that stain will absorb into very new wood

Just wanted to see if anyone had a good distributor for the flat bristled 6" 80 grit Osborne's? I have always bought the round bristled from McMaster Carr for around 40 some dollars. I had always wanted to try the flat bristled, but wasn't willing to pay the ridiculous price they want from some of the log home stores. For the ones who have used both, Is there that much of a difference between the 2 different style bristles?

I was hoping maybe it might be faster on more fuzzed up wood.

You can get 5 gallons of Baker's for $75-$80, a product and price you can't go wrong with. It wouldn't surprise me to see Baker's last a little longer than the 200 Series TWP on just slightly aged wood since Baker's has more mineral spirits in it to increase penetration. Now on very old wood I could see the 200 series lasting longer in theory, it should last longer if it contains transparent iron oxides. Now you can see why Shane from Texas has had all those years of great jobs. The A-C is very similar and is lasting very well on test boards right beside Baker's.

Dan, I really don't understand what has happened to your deck. Nothing makes sense. Try some tests with that board. Use a stronger bleach mixture 2-3% hitting the surface and then stain do that on one section. Another section add the M-1 and see. Also spray a little bleach on the stained board and see if the black spots come off. If all of those steps fail then I would definitely have to conclude it's the stain. I use 15% SH and I have it hit the surface at a rate of between 4 and 5 to 1. This is on older unsealed wood. On newer wood I would normally cut that dilution in half. I use some different soaps mixed in with it, sometimes a little HD-80, a little F-13 a little of this and that, lol. One thing I do know is it works!

Just about anytime you're stripping an old stain that someone else applied a bleach step should follow the strip, because more than likely especially if a homeowner did the staining they didn't clean the wood properly before they did the initial staining so they stained over mildew. You will just have to take a look at the wood after the stripping process to see. The strippers don't do a good job of removing that mildew. Always use your citralic for the last step. Good Luck. For unsealed wood over the past few years I've decided nothing cleans the wood like the BDA formula. I'm sure Jim will 2nd that. I especially love the BDA formula flowing through an X-Jet. As for a parrafin stain and mildew. I know with Baker's I've never had a mildew problem. I just recently looked at a deck that I did almost a year and a half ago with Baker's Gold Blend, it still looks good. Plenty of pigment left on it. Before I sold my house I had Ready Seal on my new PT deck after about 6 months it would cover with surface mildew which makes the whole deck look black. Surface mildew looks different than what you posted. What caused it was since Ready Seal is non-drying and doesn't leave the surface as dry as Baker's(although Baker's is non-drying also, but has more MS in it) is dirt, pollen and everything else sticks to the surface. Well then mildew has what it needs to grow. And then again I could have overapplied the Ready Seal who knows? I know the surface wasn't wet or shiny. But on a Ready Seal house that I did there wasn't that problem. It still looks good over 3 years since I did it. I talked to a lady that owns a company that makes a non-drying log home finish and I told her this same problem and she said add M-1 mildewcide, and it will help. She said it will stay at the surface and prevent this from happening. Maybe someone else here can chime in on that.

I have used it before a few years ago. The color retention has been excellent on that deck. Transparency is similar to the AC semi, with SW clay pigment.