Hi all.
I just finished installing the fence gate that I mentioned about a month ago. SWMBO informed me that she likes the redwood grain appearance so I would like your advice on a fast inexpensive, great looking coating to preserve the look of the wood. This is out in the "weather" (1) 24 x 7 so durability is most important.
Thank you.
--Winston
(1) San Francisco Bay area 90% "Weather": Bright sunshine with light drizzle possible. 40 F to 85 F; limited humidity.
Spar varnish. Thin the first coat or two so it "sinks in" better.
Chris
Very good. Thanks, Chris.
--Winston
won't te yellow tint turn it brown?
i'd try on some scrap first.
=A0This is out in the "weather" (1) 24 x 7 so durability
If you put Spar Varnish on this it will look fantastic and shiney for about 11 months. Then it will start to peel. No problem, simply sand of every bit of it at that time and then reapply. Repeat every 11 months... forever. Even on a front door that is only partially exposed, the best you'll get is two years off any varnish. Aslk any boat owner about the word "refit."
I would suggest a penetrating oil finish, specifically Penofin if you can find it. Get a few quart cans or find a good store that has samples of redwood with the finish applied. Even the clear will change the color and they also have stain colors but I am telling you redwood is beautiful when oiled. yes, you need to reapply, probably once a year but just slosh on another coat.
On Thu, 20 May 2010 12:53:32 -0700, Winston wrote the following:
Aw, just Penofin that puppy. It's semi-transparent and slows greying considerably. I haven't used it but have seen it on several projects to good effect. They like the Red Label the best. Nobody I know has tried the Verde (Spanish for "green") eco-safe no-voc version. "Clear" is the least offensive color, IMnsHO. ;)
Ferret out your best local price. It's spendy, but everything which works is nowadays. (As are many things which don't, like our CONgress.)
-- The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been. -- Madeleine L'Engle
Personally I'd go for a penetrating stain purpose made for redwood decks and fences.
Whatever you use, if it's a clear finish you're going to have to maintain it regularly--that means inspect annually and usually recoat every couple of years, in some cases after stripping the finish. Clear finishes just don't hold up well in exterior applications.
Read all the instructions carefully, and understand that the people who make the stuff are _serious_--you can't cut corners or the stuff is going to look like Hell and come off in patches in a short time--also don't try to follow some generic procedure--different materials have different applications requirements. If it says "pressure wash and coat in two hours" then pressure wash and coat in two hours. If it says "sand and wait three months" then sand and wait three months.
On Thu, 20 May 2010 16:04:09 -0700, Larry Jaques wrote the following:
Oops, I jsut saw a comment that the clear allows the wood to go gray. Uckfay atthay itshay.
-- The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been. -- Madeleine L'Engle
NOT.
Varnish, especially spar, or even poly or LP, just won't cut it on redwood.
Need a penetrating oil, applied every 6-9 months, depending on exposure.
BTW, cheap and fast are mutually exclusive in this application.
Lew
There may be quicker and easier ways to treat your gate but anything worth doing is worth doing right, here's my method.
If you didn't use stainless steel fastners, now is a good time to correct that oversight, some of the chemicals may be corrosive.
First you will need to build a metal pan deep enough to submerge your gate with it laying flat and block it up aroundthe sides with some of your neighbors pavers (you can return them when through).
Now is a good time to get beer, while you are at the store getting borax, get a case and a half and three boxes of borax.
Fill the pan with water and start a fire under it. I recommend you use some old tires, foam rubber, plastic bottles and maybe some heart pine for fuel. feeding a fire is hot dirty work, the smoke will keep the flies, gnats and mosquitoes out of the neighborhood while you work, everyone will benefit.
When the water comes to a boil dissolve all the borax that will go into solution, and lay the gate in pan and bring back to a boil. After the gate has boiled for 10 minutes put out the fire and let cool until the next morning. Do this three days in a row, don't laugh, at one time all wood was treated this way, it is highly effective even if it is a little slow and messy.
On the second and third day walk your property line and look for neighbors pets that may have ingested the solution and that are sick or dead, collect them in garbage bags and place in freezer, you can use your freezer or one the neighbors if they have one on their back porch. Don't forget to move them before they are discovered. You may want to keep the cats for a push stick.
After the third day you have to dispose of the borax solution, if there is a tree leaning over your property line that you don't really enjoy, that would be a good place to dump the solution. Always think ahead and try solve two problems at once.
Let the gate dry for a couple of weeks. Fill your pan with paraffin and bring to frying heat and put gate back in pan, cook for 30 minutes. Put fire out and wait until the wax is down to 200 degrees, this will ensure that enough has penetrated the wood and it will be thin enough to drain completely and leave a nice finish.
Disposing of the wax is more of a problem, it won't soak in the ground, so you will have to carry it at least two houses away from yours.
Return the pavers, they will look fine even if they are a smoky and cracked up.
Use the pan for a drip pan to park the car over. Rehang the gate, if you have done this correctly it will last at least 25 years, by then most of the neighbors will have forgotten about the missing pets, smoke and trees dying.
basilsik
A wink is as good as a nod to a blind horse
That's how I did my gate but I had a helluva time finding a pan big enough. Makes a great drip pan though.
Copy that. Thanks!
--Winston
Thanks, Larry.
--Winston
OK.
Thanks!
--Winston
Esyay. Anksthay.
--Instonway
I suspected as much.
Larry's Penofin sounds like a better contender.
--Winston
(Stunningly labor intensive but no doubt effective process)
Thanks, Basilisk.
I'm hoping for something that I can spread on with a paintbrush in about 20 minutes.
--Winston
--Winston
Thank You. I'm sure you didn't take me seriously when I mentioned a pan big enough for that gate. {:-)
Max
"Larry Jaques" wrote
Here I am in a city of 700,000 and there's no place to find Penofin. Las Cruces, NM is the closest...........45 miles.
Max (mutter, mumble, gripe)
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