My Experience with Baker's Gray Away

[PressurePros 249]

Sometimes the quest for the holy grail can be a bit unnerving. First of all, I'd like to thank Shane down in Texas for some cool chat (after he has a few sips of that Starbucks quadruple shot french vanilla watch out!) He gave me his feedback in that cool laid back Texas style of hi. I really enjoyed shooting the shee-at with him. Standing with nothing to gain, he followed up on my initial order of product. Kudos, bro.

I'll start with pictures number one and two. Your typical neglected deck with the remnants of God knows what on it. EFC-38 at 8 oz/gallon, Citrallic at 3 oz per gallon. Sanded in quite a few spots (despite my protests of spot sanding homeowner was adamant about having toddler being able to walk around splinter free) and buffed with Osborne brush.

[PressurePros 249]

For those who are not familiar with the product, it is a paraffinic oil with properties similar to Ready Seal.

Some of the pros and cons of the product are inherent to this type of oil. It is excellent for wood moisturizing. It is very conducive to maintenance and never has to be stripped. It is also very runny and drips especially in the hot sun. The colors of Baker's Gray Away rock. I haven't seen them all but I liked what I saw in Super Cedar Gold and Dark.

What I don't like about this type of oil can also be considered what makes it a good choice for wood. It penetrates like no tommorrow. Unfortunately that equates to time and product. Two things that reduce my bottom line. This deck was very dry. We applied three heavy coats to the floor, brushed them in evenly, waited five minutes bewten coats and wiped off excess oil. I had them wipe it because the sun was causing some flash curing. I am not thrilled with the results on the floor though I do think it looks good. The problem with this type of oil is, when you start with fresh wood it takes a few applications (meaning year after year) before it looks even. I will say that I like the Gray Away better than Ready Seal and it does seem to have a cure to it. Maybe Shane can step in and offer more tech stuff.

[JFife 14]

My initial thoughts:

1) Looks ALMOST as good as Shane's--probably a "getting used to" thing.

2) That "applicability" is an employee-friendly characteristic, unless you brush a lot, then it is time consuming.

3) does it come in metal or plastic?

4) Hard to mix?

5) Maybe the only thing keeping the floor from being PERFECT like Shane's are, is that you used a brush rather than pad. ....Or like you said, 08' will be the banner year for this deck.

[PressurePros 249]

Jon, You may be right about the brush thing versus a pad. It seems to be the only missing variable. It could also be that this deck is exposed to sun all day, hasn't been treated in five years and was bone dry. The sun was also a factor, I would liked to have let it sit longer before brushing/wiping. Hard to say until I do another similar deck and use a pad. Again, Shane, jump in here.

Yes, it was a PITA to mix. It comes in a plastic pail. The pic I used from the reverse angle to show clean has the pails on th deck.

[seymore 90]

It looks great from here Ken nice job :cool:

I think it's only going to look better as it cures in a few days or so.It is a pain to stain in the heat of the day sometimes on a bone dry deck it's not only you i run into the same problems.I just end up using more stain at times on older decks that soak up the stain like a sponge.

You had that much solids on the bottom to mix?

I use only paint pads Ken the ones from Padco that work great and last afew jobs before tearing up.

What's your grade from your first time applying the BGA?

[newlook 265]

Sweet looking deck Ken...Shane is top notch!!

[RPetry 564]

Ken,

Very fair, through review of Baker's Gray Away. A few questions and comments.

The problem with this type of oil is, when you start with fresh wood it takes a few applications (meaning year after year) before it looks even. I will say that I like the Gray Away better than Ready Seal and it does seem to have a cure to it.

The eveness of color of the finish with paraffinic oil based stains certainly depends on the wood species and grade. I personally have noticed no difference in this regard to other oil semi-trans stains. At least with RS, the color will get richer or deeper looking after more applications. Also, stains with iron oxide pigments reflect light in such a way that colors can vary widely due to board grain and sun direction. If the observer moves and changes his angle of viewing, the color changes due to the reflection of sunlight. A cloudy day will "even" out the look.

In comparing BGA to RS, you write "and it does seem to have a cure to it". I am unsure of what this means. Could you explain further?

[PressurePros 249]

Hi Rick,

This is an amateur explaination as though I understand the very basics of sealers and their composition, I can only explain in layman's terms. You are right about the tonations reflected by trans oxide pigmentation. Wood Tux photographs poorly unless you get the perfect angle. "Richer" is perhaps the tone I was looking for... By using the word "even" I mean the oil and pigments are pentrated uniformly and at the same depth throughout the wood. A part of my problem yesterday might have been the temp and sun level. When I say 'cures' I mean it seems to dry. Again my lack of technical undertanding of Gray Away prevents me from giving you factual information as to why this is. The best way to compare is to tell you that Ready Seal seems to give a longer working time (no cure). A hose was loose on the sprayer and a smal stream spurted across the deck before I tightened. I left this little oops there because in my past experience with Ready Seal, one could just go right over the spot and have no blending issues. The Gray Away left evidence of that streak when I went over it and check it fifteen minutes later.

I am off to stain a monster today. I'll touch back later.

[Lou Beach 14]

Shane, do you buy the Padco Paint pads or the Stain pads?

Where do you purchase them?

Also, I have a pump up sprayer that I want to change the spray wand on, I want a longer one, anyone know where do purchase these?

thanks

[RPetry 564]

Ken,

Thanks. I understand now what you mean, but do not understand the reason. You are just a few miles from me. Yesterday was sunny but cool temps. I was hand brushing a cedar balustrade (two tone with Trex floor) with RS and waited until 9:30 AM to start. The previous night had been in the 40's and knew that the wood had to warm up a bit to take a quantity of stain. Even when the afternoon temps reached ~70 F., the stain was still wet to the touch for an hour or so.

Something is wrong. Shane uses BGA in Houston in the dead of summer. Talk about hot temps and brutal sun! I'm sure he can clear things up.

[RPetry 564]

Ken,

The problem with this type of oil is, when you start with fresh wood it takes a few applications (meaning year after year) before it looks even.

Not necessarily true. Attached are two photos with RS med. red on cedar. Cedar is not known for its consistancy. The wood is 10 yrs. old with Wolman's F&P natural applied 3 yrs. ago. Wood stained yesterday, pictures taken this AM.

Balustrade and privacy fence stripped with NaOH and neutralized with citric acid. This is the 1st application of paraffinic oil. Single application, brushed on due to the Trex decking.

First pic is an overview. Look on the leftmost part of the balustrade. The rails are a different color from the spindles. Part picture and sun angle, but the individual cuts of lateral and vertical wood is nearly the same. Colors are different. Not the stain, it is the grain and cut of the wood.

Second pic. Closeup or the cedar privacy fence. Disregard the dark areas, they are shadows. Yeah, the wood varies in coloration, but that is the nature of the wood, not the stain.

Any good oil stain will highlight the wood. It will not change the nature of the wood. That is part of the beauty of wood and why we do all that we do.

[PressurePros 249]

Cool convo, as usual, Rick. I am going to go back and look at it next week. The more I look at the pictures, I think I made a mistake in agreeing to spot sanding. Many of the "spots" coincide.

[RPetry 564]

Ken,

Spot sanding should not affect PT wood. With any stain that I have used, that wood is near bullet proof. Spot sand all the time on cedar without many problems. Touch up here and there, but no big deal. Someting is wrong.

Talk to Shane. He knows.

[James 625]

Never spot sand!! big NO NO ! If a person goes from a filming product or the applicator does the same. You or they have to get used to the change. I have 99% happy people, some people have to be uniform ? The Advantages of penitrating products far out way any scam on the market.

I did 3 one day decks this week ( big ones) twenty next week. And I don't use WTW or Cabots...?

[PressurePros 249]

Ken,

Spot sanding should not affect PT wood. With any stain that I have used, that wood is near bullet proof. Spot sand all the time on cedar without many problems. Touch up here and there, but no big deal. Someting is wrong.

Talk to Shane. He knows.

I totally disagree with that, Rick. Spot sanding exposes fresh wood which acepts sealer and tones differently than surface wood. Look closely at the pictures, then let me know. If you cannot tell where I sanded, that was intentional but the spots are there.

[James 625]

Fresh wood , old wood, sanded wood , new wood, rubbed wood,hard wood, penitrating oils, non penitrating something. I can't take it any longer!!!!

[PressurePros 249]

Having hard wood is my favorite.

Disclaimer to non woodies: The fumes, vapors and VOC's we inhale daily obviously cause brain damage. Please disregard all that you read in wood restoratuion threads and call your therapist.

[RPetry 564]

Ken,

Spot sanding exposes fresh wood which acepts sealer and tones differently than surface wood.

True. That is what I mean by touch up. I generally go back and replace deck furniture, talk to my customer, touch up any areas, and collect the check. Spot sanding with 60 grit on PT or cedar has not been a problem.

[seymore 90]

Shane, do you buy the Padco Paint pads or the Stain pads?

Where do you purchase them?

Lou it's the deck and fence stain pads and i get them from Plano when i order my stain.

You can call Padco for a distributor in your area and might luck out and find one.

link to the ones i use....

http://www.padco.com/default.cfm/PID=1.1.12

[RPetry 564]

Ken and Jim,

What do you guys do about splinter hazards on deck floors? Nearly every deck I run into over 3 or 4 yrs. old is spot sanded in these areas. Every wood handrail is lightly, but completely sanded. This is part of my normal services. Use a random orbital with Klingspor 60 grit paper.

[PressurePros 249]

60 grit on random orbital here too. I do exactly the same thing on handrails. They get a quick pass. This deck was splitting pretty badly. I had to carve out sections with an exacto type knife then sand down the area smooth so little feet wouldn't catch onto it.