Sealer Recommendation? (Ironwood and Redwood Deck)

[Dave]

I have a recently constructed ironwood deck (with redwood rails) and some redwood fencing that I'd like to put a sealer on before winter hits. I live in Northern California and end up seeing a fair amount of rain during the year (by California standards of course).

I searched through the archive of this newsgroup looking for sealer recommendations. Penofin keeps popping up (although somebody else mentioned Cabots, and CFM-UV(sp?). Just curious if anybody has recently used either, and if so, what is your opinion of the product? Primarily, I'm looking to prevent sun and water damage ? I would prefer to go with something transparent, and also something that doesn't maintain a strong smell for an extended amount of time (one user said the Marine Oil brand of Penofin maintained a very strong smell for several weeks).

I did find a recent 52 message Penofin thread where I received some helpful information on how to use search engines, and warnings that I would be severely flogged should I commit an etiquette breach by top posting, but I didn't see a resounding, "Yeah, Penofin is great!," or "no way, don't use it!" (Please feel free to be a bit more verbose with your reply). The ironwood web sites I visited did not recommend a particular sealer.

Thanks in advance,

-Dave

[tecwhiz]

[Phil]

I used Cabots Clear Coat on VG cedar siding on my home. It is 70 feet back from the Atlantic in Maine so it sees some pretty hash weather. It was first applied about 12 years ago. One coat on all size surfaces and a second coat on the exposed surfaces after installation. Recoating was done at about year 3 and year 6. I wasn't too happy with its ability to protect and/or retard mildew. I cleaned it all off about three or four years ago and had Benjamin Moore's transparent cedar stain applied. It has been redone once since then and seems to be holding up well. The only possible negative is that while the Cabot product looked like an oiled finish the Benjamin Moore product is harder and more shiny.

I have used Flood's cedar stain on cedar fences in Texas and been happy with they way it restored the surface after exposure to extreme drying and UV.

More recently I have started to use Penofin on some projects and believe that it may be the superior product but it looks like you need to start with it on bare wood. I don't know how well it will perform if the surface has been previously treated with a different formulation.

Penofin's KnotWood is a superb product in my opinion for finishing and restoring synthetic materials like Trex.

Phil

Dave wrote:

[Young Carpenter]

Normally the guy who can pay for iron wood can pay to have the deck finished professionally too. (sorta like the guy who can afford a Ferrari can afford the insurance)