Transparent stain vs. wet wood - similar effect?

mrubelmann

New Member
Hi,

We just bought some transparent stain (Wolman's F&P) for a cedar deck but haven't applied it yet. We did a little bit of sanding in certain spots to remove some old stain that didn't come off with the chemical stripper we used. I hosed the deck down to hopefully wash off whatever dust was left from the sanding and I was a little disappointed by how it looked when it was wet. The grain of the wood was more visible than when it was dry, which is what I'm expecting the stain will do as well. However, it also made some ugly blotches show up. First of all, there are dark spots around a lot of the screws. It looks like the worst ones are where they were up above the wood slightly and got hit by the sander. Then there are also a few spots that were much lighter and it seems like it might be in places where I sanded more aggressively than other areas. There are also a few slightly light patches that I just can't come up with an explanation for.

Anyway, I'm just wondering if those imperfections are going to be exaggerated by the stain in the same way that they were by the water. If so, can anyone think of anything I can do about it? In particular I'd like to know if I can get rid of those dark spots around the screws.

Thanks,
Mark
 

PressurePros

New Member
Yes, those imperfections will show up similarly to the way the deck looks when wet. Your fix is to set the screws, and resand those areas. Also, you have to know what you are doing when you sand, spot sanding will produce those blotchy areas. Repairing before staining involves feathering out your areas that you sanded.
 

mrubelmann

New Member
Yes, those imperfections will show up similarly to the way the deck looks when wet. Your fix is to set the screws, and resand those areas. Also, you have to know what you are doing when you sand, spot sanding will produce those blotchy areas. Repairing before staining involves feathering out your areas that you sanded.

Thanks! Unfortunately, that's not what I wanted to hear though! ;) I haven't put down the stain yet so I'll give that a try. I was thinking I might also try a cleaner.

-Mark
 

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