Drying issues with A.C. semitransparent

[plainpainter 217]

I stained this Mahogany Deck last a week ago tuesday after fully restoring it. But there was an enclosed part to this deck where the finish was still like brand new. I am not sure what it was, customer said it was sikkens - it was clear and kind of shiny. But all the walls were tongue and groove fir that was in perfect condition - so stripping this area would have lead to a disaster. So I rinsed all the walls down and floor and sprayed f-18 at 12 ozs/gallon with a 30-40 second dwell and rinsed the whole area down real fast and neutralized. This took off the sheen. Then when I came back to sand the deck - I used a scotchbrite pad on the floor sander and further buffed out the entire floor. Now the floor was completely etched.

When I stained - the outdoor portions got two coats like usual, but I only lambswooled one very light coat and stretched it over the boards. But several days later I get complaints about it not being dry, and this is the photo I took. What I did last Friday to try and correct this issue is I brought my Fan down, my infra red space heater. And while that was going - I was also working in the stain with several of those auto style paper towels, I went over the whole floor and kept buffing, moving the infrared heater around - and finally after three hours I got it to the point where the 'wet' boards were nice and uniformly matte in appearance.

But I just got more complaints again last night - and this is really pissing me off. The stain that has dribbled down the side of the can is dry, the brush I forgot to put in thinner is crusted hard - why the hell is this floor giving me issues? I know it's completely shaded and it's been humid as heck - but the air has turned drier in the last couple of days and there is air circulation.

What can I do at this point? Stripping is out of the question. Can I buff it again - but this time with mineral spirits - or turps? Or something with more zing, like VM&P naptha. Can I buff Japan drier into the surface? We're not talking a lot of stain applied here, just basically took 3 dunks with the lambswool applicator into the tray to cover this whole floor.

Will this stain every dry by it's own, eventually?

[Mountain View 14]

I have seen a similar result with Ipe. A light 'ragging' with mineral spirits worked for me. The wood grain may be so tight and the pre-existing finish may not allow the new stain to go deeper than a millimeter or so (if that much). I am a little curious what caused you worry about stripping the entire deck? By enclosed do you mean a totally enclosed room?

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Been there done that. You have to strip it to install AC. My suggesting is go wipe it down with mineral spirits, but if that doesn't do it, strip, prep and install.

Beth

[James 625]

Dan the only way you could of enhance that finish is by rubbing it in by hand and wiping right away ( maybe a half of a cup cut in half ). You put too much on on top of another finish? You could win the Grime Scene OOPS award for this one !!!!!

Naptha and Acetone work better than spirits in this case or cut some Boiled linseed oil and rub it over to create more of a film might work >?

[acegot 14]

Over old finish wipe on, buff off right away, buff again in an hour. At this point I use lacquer thinner to wipe down then buff with cotton rag.

[plainpainter 217]

I went back yesterday with a terry cloth and mineral spirits, I had with me VM&M Naptha, Acetone, turpentine, Xylene, lacquer thinner just in case, but the mineral

spirits worked well enough. The deck was 95% of the way there - just a quick rub down of the boards and they were perfect. I have to say this about A.C. - it doesn't

get gummy after all this time - I was still able to wipe it. Now the folks can move in all their furniture for 4th of July weekend for their party.

I know what you are saying Jim, but I had my nephew with me that day and trying to train him. Was trying to teach him to spread it really thin, the thing is the A.C. still

has tremendous penetration power, even when an old finish is still intact and 'etched' by buffing - the boards on the outside perimeter soaked in all the stain without any

additional help, just the sun was enough. And a quick rubdown - although would have relieved me of any headaches, wouldn't have gotten nearly as much stain into the wood

than what I did.

[plainpainter 217]

I have seen a similar result with Ipe. A light 'ragging' with mineral spirits worked for me. The wood grain may be so tight and the pre-existing finish may not allow the new stain to go deeper than a millimeter or so (if that much). I am a little curious what caused you worry about stripping the entire deck? By enclosed do you mean a totally enclosed room?

Yes - it has screen windows - but it's all walled in and roofed in. It keeps enough weather out that the homeowner had really nice sofas in there, a nice rug and a large screen tv. The walls were tongue and groove fir really nicely done with some clear coating - the same with the ceiling. And there were patio doors along the total length where it abuts the house wall - and I've almost screwed myself in the past with those coated aluminum patio door frames with either stripper or acid. Just a total Cluster Phuck if you wanted to do a full 100% stripping - to date I've never figured a system that keeps stripper off of walls - I can't seem to tape any sort of plastic that will withstand the washing process.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

A/C needs to penetrate in order to dry.

Otherwise, the non-drying oil stays on the surface and keeps the whole thing wet.

Word to the wise, never apply A/C over another product. It was not meant to be applied that way.

Rod!~

[jmilez1 14]

There's nothing wrong on drying your wood furnitures with a.c semi transparent. You will see the difference between spray painted wood furnitures and dried a.c semi transparent wood furnitures. The quality of the dried a.c semi transparent wood furnitures will be better.