=20
"Jack Fearnley" wrote in message =
. ..
| I have built a rustic looking garden bench out of cedar and I now need =
to
| finish it. It needs some kind of stain to unify the variety of =
colours in
| the wood and, of course, it needs protection against the weather. I =
live
| in Montreal Canada so the weather can be pretty extreme.
|

If you leave the cedar alone, it will age to a beautiful silver all by =
itself. If you have a South facing deck, the sun will cook any cover =
you apply. I have that deck and I've been thru Sikkens, Behr and HH. =
Only thing I found that really works is my belt sander.=20
=20
| I bought a Behr product from the local borg. It was supposed to be a =
light
| cedar but it came out rather opaque and darker than I wanted. It =
looks ok
| if I brush it on and wipe it off but I am afraid that there wouldn't =
be
| enough left on to protect the wood if I did that.
|=20

What you see is what you get. There is no stain that will stay. That =
is why there are 2 kinds of colour cover - opaque and semi-transparent. =
The former is for those that do not want to see grain and the latter for =
those that do. You can re-apply the stain periodically but you will =
eventually cover up the grain with stain and no grain will show.

| When I suggest using a wipe on stain followed by protecting with a =
clear
| finish such as Thompson's water seal I get funny looks. Is there =
something
| terribly wrong with this approach?
|=20

Ask any reasonably astute sales person and you will get the =
"Is-he-for-real??" stare/look. The water seal does not stay good for =
long. If you want to see grain, look for a clear wood preservative and =
be prepared to re-apply it annually or bi-annually. The preservative =
will keep the cedar from splitting and checking - at least that is what =
they say. =20

| Actually there is one practical problem because the wiping stains =
don't seem
| to come in cedar.
|=20
| Any suggestions would be welcome at this point.
|=20
| Best Regards,
| Jack Fearnley
|=20

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PDQ
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