Armstrong Clark

[John Orr]

Looking at the A-C website, it would appear that their Transparent colors (toners) are VERY similar to the Olympic Toners. For those trying the A-C, you might want to also try the Oly Toners. Oly has a few more colors (clear, honey gold, cedar, brown and redwood.) too.

[MMI Enterprises]

John, Have not used the toner...can ya say if it leaves a topical coat or is that mainly penetrating oils?

[John Orr]

John, Have not used the toner...can ya say if it leaves a topical coat or is that mainly penetrating oils?

Mainly oil. After application, you can walk on it within minutes without leaving footprints. (24 hr to completely dry.) No topical coat that can be seen. Toner has the consistency of products like Minwax, Old English or liquid shoe polish or mineral spirits.

[MMI Enterprises]

Then yer saying the toner is a decnt departure from the max (brown can)?. You see that other thread where one of my HO's got the green can stuff all over the place with pump-up?..looked to be creating a film to me where he was actually able to get it on the fence, seemed no different in that case then the brown can..had shine, had lap marks from heavy application.

[rtate]

I haven't heard any mention of AC on hardwoods like ipe..
The Armstrong web site doen't seem to address exotics or have a specific formula for hardwoods that i could see.
Does anyone have any experience in this area??

[ShineBrite LLC]

One of my regular clients owns a lumber co that imports exotics. His decks and docks are combos of Ipe, cumaru, cumbaru, pt pine, spanish cedar and synthetics. Sort of a big experiment I guess. He has using pennofin that he buys himself on all the hardwoods, but it has turned dark on the cedar twice. He gave me some Ipe boards to try the AC on, but I have not done it yet. I need to try it and see... will post again. Maybe I'll get to it this weekend since this has come up.

[bigchaz]

Got ten gallons of the cedar semi trans coming that I'm going to try on a pressure treated deck in early july. Im pretty excited so we'll see how it goes

[John Orr]

There are no similarities between the Toner and the Semi Transparent. None. The film in the other thread appears to be Toner over some existing stain - I don't recognize the color.

Then yer saying the toner is a decnt departure from the max (brown can)?. You see that other thread where one of my HO's got the green can stuff all over the place with pump-up?..looked to be creating a film to me where he was actually able to get it on the fence, seemed no different in that case then the brown can..had shine, had lap marks from heavy application.

[YVPW]

Charlie AC's cedar is light to medium brown unlike most that are orange or orange red.

[bigchaz]

Charlie AC's cedar is light to medium brown unlike most that are orange or orange red.

Yea thats why I liked it. Ive been doing probably 90 percent of my decks in WTW brown sugar and I saw the sample from AC, the cedar looked very similar in tone.

[MMI Enterprises]

John, I'll review other thread to see yer latest response but just to keep clear for here.. that fence was new and the HO used green can Olympic Maximum which is first product listed under the 'toner' section. Is why I specifically ask which product you use that never laps or leaves film.

[YVPW]

yeah it is very similar in color to Brown Sugar. I've got some more stuff coming from AC. I'm gonna play with some colors on semi-new and old wood to see what I can come up with.

[YVPW]

After reviewing my posts on this topic I wanted to clear something up. I still think Wood Tux and Stain & Seal look the best on newer wood(logs, hardwoods etc.) I think AC is better for older wood. Really Wood Tux by itself shouldn't be used to restore old weathered wood. Like Rick has mentioned in the past that parrafin oil based stains are the best for wood.

[bigchaz]

After reviewing my posts on this topic I wanted to clear something up. I still think Wood Tux and Stain & Seal look the best on newer wood(logs, hardwoods etc.) I think AC is better for older wood. Really Wood Tux by itself shouldn't be used to restore old weathered wood. Like Rick has mentioned in the past that parrafin oil based stains are the best for wood.

We must be running with the same brain. I love woodtux on newer wood, but with older stuff it seems to take much more product and doesn't finish quite the same. Thats why im thinking AC will work well on the dryer stuff, especially seeing as their colors are similar and the stain still has the curing aspect to it like woodtux

[YVPW]

Charlie I guess great minds think alike, lol. Well anyway on to the topic..

IMO if we are truly in business to restore old weathered wood, we should never use just a straight alkyd whether mineral spirits or water or anything else is the carrier(I think Wood Tux does have some parrafin oil in it, but a stain for restored wood needs quite a bit more). And most definitely not a water based product. When the wood is new the natural sugars and oils are for the most part still in the wood, especially deep down. That's where a product like Wood Tux or for Log Homes water based stains can come in.

Charlie you need to try Baker's Gray Away and AC on an old deck. It will look much better than Wood Tux or Stain & Seal and you are actually restoring the wood. Stain & Seal does have more parrafin oil in it, but IMO it still doesn't come close to doing what Baker's and AC do. I'm sure TWP has some stains that fit the bill also, just haven't used them. Tom Baker down at Texas Wood Products can also make a deck blend that has more mineral spirits and less parrafin oil, it finishes beautifully. More for the semi-new decks, 3 year range. You have to order at least 40 gallons for him to make that blend. It's probably more like TWP 100 series. That is, If I've understood correctly about the 100 series.