Can I / Should I hit with Ox again?

[Tonyg]

I stripped my fence, shed, and neighbors fence last Saturday. My fence and shed had the black version of WT WHG. My fence came out fine and the shed, with Cyprus, originally looked pretty good last week when it dried.

Ive noticed the last day or two the shed is getting some blackening on the cyprus horizontals. I still have to do some defurring but I was hoping to stain it tomorrow if I get home in time.

The second item is the neighbors fence. I have attached the before/after. Although there were still some stains after cleaning it looked much better than it does now. The blackening is significant and although I just did it as a favor I do not want it to look bad when I stain it. I would have to look at it every day when I came home.

Can I / Should I hit them with Ox again? Is a week to long to wait before staining cyprus or is this something else. The neighbors fence is just ultra cheap PT.

PS: I did use a NaOH and strong SH solution to clean and strip and then neutralized with Ox at about 7oz per gallon.

[Beth n Rod]

Rewash....and try mixing citric with your ox to cut down on the silvering you get.

Beth

[Beth n Rod]

I think you might need to hit it again with hd-80 again to get rid of the black pigment that appears to be left in the substrate.

Rod!~

[Adrian]

Rewash....and try mixing citric with your ox to cut down on the silvering you get.

Beth

Citric as in Citrallic with Ox? I though that was a no no.

[RPetry]

Tony,

BTW the wood is cypress. Anyway, it almost looks like the old Behr's nightmare from years past, ie. mold/mildew getting below the substrate of the wood. Does the various incantations of WT do that?

Regardless, if that is the problem, the only remedy I have found is a hard NaOH soaking for 12 hrs. And that cannot be done on vertical wood.

[Beth n Rod]

Citric as in Citrallic with Ox? I though that was a no no.

"Citralic" is a made up name, created by ESI, to label the blend of citric and oxalic acid they sell. According to the MSDS it is a 70/30 blend. We use a blend, but do not buy the ESI product.

Oxalic when mixed too strong can cause a silver effect to be present once the wood dries. Blended oxalic and citric leaves the wood more natural looking. You could use all citric, but it won't address tannin bleeding from nails and such, you need the oxalic for that.

Hope this helps.

Beth

[RPetry]

Beth,

Ahem... Nothing addresses "tannin" bleed on cedar or other decent woods for very long. And it is the degradation of the fasteners, not the wood itself.

Wood is a pure wonder of nature. It is carpenters and bad wood restorers that cause the problems.

[PressurePros]

Tony.. strange. I'm gonna guess you have a mold spore issue. Your fence pre-wash pictures' bright green spots correspond almost perfectly with the blackening. I'm gonna go have to urge myself after suggesting this but.. maybe a light bleach wash? Its unfortunate that ESI had to go through so many issues trying to get a uniform quality Wood Tux. I have some Wood Tux decks that still look good after three years with no maintenance. Unfortunately the majority of them look like hell with some having to have been stripped in less than six months.

[Adrian]

The B word !!!!!!

[RPetry]

The B word !!!!!!

Adrian,

Hah! The "B word" has been a proven cleaner for wood for decades. Ask Diamond Jim , or Shane from Tx. (where is he by the way?), or other old time wood contractors from the old Delco board, if they are still alive!

We do not use it on raw wood, but for maintenance, its the cat's meow.

[Tonyg]

Thanks guys. I used a fairly strong NaOH solution to strip and added about 3.5%-4% SH because of the black in the WT. I was afraid it bred mildew under the stain. The neighbors fence was typical ugly cheap fence - never cleaned or stained.

My PT fence did not discolor but the cyprus definitely changed over the week. I wasn't sure if the softer wood would change like that. I used a strong enough SH mix that I would think it wouldn't be residual mildew.

I will wash again and try to stain it quickly. Is the discoloration on the cyprus "silvering" or is it is it a matter of the PH not being balanced? I know it looks bad now but it really did look fine last weekend and seemed to discolor more as the week went on. Will it make a difference if I juice up the Ox?

I will order some citric next time I place a chem order. Is there a surfactant or buffer that can be added as well?

[Adrian]

Adrian,

Hah! The "B word" has been a proven cleaner for wood for decades. Ask Diamond Jim , or Shane from Tx. (where is he by the way?), or other old time wood contractors from the old Delco board, if they are still alive!

We do not use it on raw wood, but for maintenance, its the cat's meow.

I actually saw Shane today. He's still at it.
Been a "B" man myself for many a year.
Where do you think I picked it up from?
Hmmm.

[Beth n Rod]

Beth,

Ahem... Nothing addresses "tannin" bleed on cedar or other decent woods for very long. And it is the degradation of the fasteners, not the wood itself.

Wood is a pure wonder of nature. It is carpenters and bad wood restorers that cause the problems.

Where it involves fasteners, you are correct. But there are also cases of tannin bleed that do not involve fasteners....

Beth

[RPetry]

Where it involves fasteners, you are correct. But there are also cases of tannin bleed that do not involve fasteners....

Beth

Beth,

Could you describe this further? The only serious problem I've had with cedars is raising the natural extractives towards the surface due to hard sanding.

[RPetry]

I actually saw Shane today. He's still at it.
Been a "B" man myself for many a year.
Where do you think I picked it up from?
Hmmm.

Adrian,

That's good to know, I thought Shane was lost. Miss his great pictures and funny posts.

Shane, along with Diamond Jim Foley, was the founder of the BDA!