Did you let it sit for 20 minutes and wipe off the excess after coating?

Hi iowark,
thanks for responding. No, I put it down just before dark so it wouldnt bake on in the sun, and let it sit on the wood overnight. In the morning I got out there on my hands and knees and wiped with a cloth but by then it was tough and gummy.
So how bad did I screw the pooch here? I am actually using this back deck (200 sq ft) as a test bed before I attempt to finish coat the really big deck I built in front of the house (over 1000sq ft.) see pic:

{{!gwi}}

Oh boy...you've given yourself quite a project. Baking in the sun has some advantages, particularly when compared to the cooler temps that sometimes include dew (hence the water spots).

I'm pretty unfamiliar with working with TWP, but since you have your "test area" and it appears you have overapplied an oil, you might want to try lightly wiping some of the gummy areas with mineral spirits to see if that will emulsify the overapplication and allow it to possibly re-penetrate or at least remove some of the excess.

Just powerwashing is not going to do much of anything about the extra stain and spotting. That is going to take some mild chemical application to really get you to where you want to be. Our recommendation would be EFC38, which will clean well but also has properties that will allow a mild strip of the top stickies.

Feel free to call or email and I'll try to help as best I can :)

Celeste
336-516-6356

Here is a link that might be useful: EFC38 - and instructions!

Thanks, Celeste,
I am not familiar with TWP, either. I have seen it mentioned by many in this forum. I went with Penofin Hardwood oil, is that the same thing?
I did try thinning it with mineral spirits and wiping that off and yes, it did get rid of most of the stickiness, but the waterspots and overall haze remain.
I will try a mild stripping agent as you suggest this weekend and see what happens there. I am thinking of just buffing the surface with a large buff pad as well.
So, if I read correctly, the only thing I did wrong was overapply the oil and then failed to wipe the excess off within a half hour?
Thanks again for the help!

Oops.....I misread the stain. Honestly, we're not big fans of the Penofin as the majority of the experiences we have had with Penofin is the removal of it!

IMO, yes, the biggest problem was overapplying & letting sit too long.

If you have the proper buffing tools on hand, I would absolutely try that before chemically treating. If you make an error it will be much more noticeable in a smaller area than if you do a booboo with chems. You will also have a better window for restaining if the job is dry. Basically you'll be buffing off the excess and not removing any of the oils that made it into the wood. When you go chemical, you can easily remove more than you meant to if you are not familiar with the strength & dwell times that you need for a particular goal.

Keep us posted :)

Celeste

Thanks!
I washed it with garden hose and a little dawn dishwasher detergent and that seems to do ok on the waterspotting, but still dries kindve dull. Next is buffing with a soft buffing pad and that should do it for a while. The Penofin seems to work fine but am not married to it, am open to reasoned alternatives. That seems to be quite a can of worms on this forum from what I have read.. IPE came out a little darker than I expected it to, even like black walnut on some boards. But that doesnt bother me too much, I actually LOVE black walnut! My natural inclination is to use polyurethane because I know that will give me the wet-look I want, but exposed to the great outdoors, I am sure to have a cracking, peeling, discolored mess on my hands in less than a year. And I went with IPE and oil because of the easy maintainence factor.
So now, it took 6 months to build and now 6 months after building and installing the bigger deck, over 1000 sq.ft. awaits finishing prep and oil. It never ends does it? :) Someday I will be able to enjoy the thing, I can feel it coming!

{{!gwi}}

I know there aren't many people on these forums that are Penofin fans (I think me and Steve from Brooklyndecks are the only ones).

I've used it two years in a row now on my IPE deck and I like it.

Unfortunately, egor, you learned the hard way that the key to Penofin, as far as I can tell, is to wipe it down after it has dwelled on the decking boards for about 20 minutes or so......only excess will be left and that's what you want to remove.
I usually do 2-3 passes across the deck with some wiping cloths and old white t-shirts.

I am just a homeowner (Celeste is the expert) so I can't help you fix the problem, but I wish you luck.

I attached a couple of pics of my deck after I finished it last year.

Beautiful job Michael!

Stains aren't made to fail - it's generally applicator error and a lack of understanding of what to do. Obviously Michael has worked the details and timing out to achieve a great end result!

Michael, how often are you doing maintenance? Be honest!

Celeste

Egor,

Penofin has great technical support. I would call them and they will be glad to help you.

1 800 penofin

Bobby

Beautiful job, Michael! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, iowark, for the penofin info, I will call them Monday!
I would love to get the results you got, Michael! Any additional info? How did you apply the penofin? Did you sand the ipe first? Stuff like that
Thanks everybody!

I built the deck summer 2007. I sanded it, cleaned it with the Penofin 1st Step Prep for Hardwood (liquid) and stained it with Penofin for Hardwoods in October.

This spring, I cleaned it with Penofin's 1st Step Prep for Hardwood (powder). I think it is basically oxalic acid.
Then I stained it again.

I used a Shurline staining pad from Lowes on a paint pole to apply the stain. Then I used a brush to get around the railing posts and any other areas that needed cutting in.

I fully expect to have to stain it once a year. That's fine with me. My deck is only 12x24, so it is not a big deal for me to complete this job in one day.
Although, Penofin says that as you build up coats of the stain on the wood over the years, the finish will last longer. we'll see on that one.

any other questions, let me know....good luck.

egor,

as mrmichaeljmoore wrote, I use Penofin on all of my decks, and I like it. Fortunately, I did read the instructions, and always wipe dry after a half hour or so. Then I stick around awhile, and wipe some more, as some oil resurfaces around screwholes and some of the open grain.

I don't like finishing decks, which is why I use penofin...easy application, looks great, and I can get it at the same yard where I get my Ipe, and my clients love the results. never had a callback.

i'm not posting any pics, but you can go to my website to see the results.

steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Urban Exteriors

Thanks again!
Question: Looking at the few pics I have posted of my decks, Does my ipe look darker than usual? Or is that just natural variation? Or maybe its the 1st step prep that lightens it slightly? Got my ipe from AWDS (Austen Wholesale) and they were very helpful.
I sanded the back deck lightly before applying the penofin, but man, this stuff is hard! I am afraid to use a belt sander but dont think anything else will get thru the top 1/32inch! Went at some test boards with a palm sander and 80grit and the stuff laughed at me! Its mocking me! :)

Egor,

It's hard to tell what your Ipe looks like, but I can tell you that the way you let the Penofin dry to a tacky mess totally obscured the beauty that is hidden beneath. Also, Penofin comes in many formulations...some darker or redder than others. I like western red cedar. If it's a sunny deck, it doesn't much matter as it'll fade before too long. Another thing, Ipe comes in a wide spectrum of colors/tones. You have Ipe that is blondish, and Ipe that borders on black...and lots of shades of brown in between. Just look at mrmichaeljmoore's deck pix...you see that blond board right next to the dark one...bad choice of wood, but then he probably didn't pick out his boards. Anyway, that's the nature of ipe. If you want every board to look the same, you gotta go with composite...but I digress.

Sanding...get a Rigid 5" random orbital sander and 40 or 50 grit disks, and you'll get some good sanding done.

steve

Steve - you've got some beautiful work on your site! Too bad you're not in NC - I could use your help on our deck!! (Want to come south for the winter? LOL)

Egor, with as much as you have applied, I know you've been told stripping is hard but it can really make your life much easier when tackling your project!

Celeste

I didn't think there was anything on the big one yet?

Celeste

That is correct, Celeste, the bigger one has nothing done yet, no sanding, no oil, just laid down last boards on it around Christmas last year. It is the job that I wont make the same mistake on. I will start work prepping it in a week. Then finish it, this time wiping excess up in 20mins. and all. Did I say something confusing on that?
The stripping agent isnt neccessary on the unfinished one, right? light sanding, then just the 1st Step Prep for Hardwood and then the penofin oil for hardwood.
Or did I miss something?
The back deck where I overapplied, will get stripped, thats what you recommended, right?

Only confused about the sanding need on the front if you are cleaning lightly. We clean, then sand if needed - oh, and, no pressure washing equipment required IMO!

Celeste

Thanks, Celeste!
I was told that there is something called "mill glaze' that should be sanded or cleaned off unfinished boards. Something about a protective coating put on at the mill.

You'll find that more on PT or other "softwoods". You should be able to do a simple clean - buff in the event you get fuzzies (not highly likely with Ipe). Your wood will be just fine .. your back will thank you!

Celeste

Oh Thank God! :)
I talked to a friend of mine on East Coast and he said the "mill glaze" is oftentimes just from the heat and pressure of the oiled saw blade at the mills.
I would very much like to NOT have to hand sand every board on the bigger deck. If I had known what a pia this would be I would have run all boards thru a planer and oil-finished right before install. It would have added another month to the job, but I am a very patient man.
My back thanks you, my knees thank you, even my dog thanks you! I will start cleaning and possibly buffing a small section of the bigger deck this weekend and test. Thanks again for all the great info, everyone!

Mill glaze is very old wrong info, like an urban mith. I dont know how it got strated like 30 years ago but it still seems to be in the mix. Runing s4s lumber thru a planer ghesss if there was such a thing as mill glaze you would be repeting it during that process.

Pre finish with decking is another bad idea for a lot of reasons. J.

Thanks, John!
Yeah, that makes sense. My friend back east is an old timer carpenter who is very knowledgeable but still has a rotary phone, so that doesnt surprize me. :)
Thanks for the info! Much appreciated!
would love to hear why pre-finishing is such a bad idea. I am sure you know what you're talking about, but I cant think why it would be so bad, plus I paid a pretty penny for these top coat brown headed screws and then the top coat sands right off, ya know? Anyways, thanks again! Really appreciate the great advice here!

e

Egor,
The penofin formulation is usually written on the can. I use the blue can...western red cedar. go to penofin.com for info.
You can do what you want with the bigger deck, but if it was milled badly, nothing beats a good sanding. Granted, my decks aren't that large...usually around 250-300 sq'. My assistant and I get down and dusty...we sand the decks with 5" RO sanders loaded with 40 grit discs. Doesn't take too long, and the results are worth it. Do it or don't.

Celeste,

Thanks for the kind words, and thanks for participating here on the forum. I'm enjoying your advice. This site needed a finishing specialist since the pressurepro left so abruptly.
Come south for the winter? I'll be flying over you in january on my way to costa rica. Thanks anyway.

steve

Thanks, Steve,
What i meant by "milled badly" was that at one end of a board it would be 5.5inches width and at the other it would be 5.375inches. This required me to go thru all the boards to try and find matching width ends where they butted, or re-rip ten foot ipe boards on site using my Sears 10inch Harry the homeowner tablesaw. It wasnt pretty. The quality of the wood and the sanded sides seem good to me, just gotten dirty and a little gray. Its really noticeable whenever I wet it down. Wet looks incredible, but soon dries back to dusty gray.
I will be testing a 50sqft area with sanding then finishing and if I like it better, I will tackle 50-100sqft every weekend until done. Or hire some helpers and get it all done in a week or so.
Thanks again for the advice.
And if you or Celeste is ever out here on the left coast near Santa Barbara, you should come by for a marguerita! Its really nice here when it isnt on fire, or earthquake, or flash flooding, or locust season, or an election, or... :)

Egor,

I'm in the northern part of your state. We use Penofin for Hardwoods all the time with good results. We only spot sand, as necessary. Most of our decks are much larger then Steve's.

Mark

Here is a link that might be useful: CRD

Beautiful work, Mark! Ever come down South? Come on down! Drink some wine, surf,finish my deck, have some great food.......I dunno, just a thought...:)
I would love to have a pro finish this thing, just that everybody I know down here is all hot-n-heavy to build decks, no one wants to finish em, though. Sigh...:)

Eric,

Where did you get your metal railing? It looks great! Is it spanning 8' sections? Also what size are your wood posts? Thanks