Water seal on outdoor furniture


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I put Thompson's Water Seal onto cedar outdoor furniture that my fantastic father-in-law made for me. I did this over a week ago and there is still residue. I can't put my cushions on or they will get dirty. I am not sure what to do. I scrubbed it with Dawn soap and have wiped it down many times and it is still there. Is this normal? I am wondering if I should just seal it up with something else now or do I have to completely remove the water sealer first? So frustrated and confused! 

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Welcome to the forum!

Cedar is one of a few wood species that is naturally good outdoors. A lot of people don't apply a finish to cedar, and let it naturally weather to a grey over time.

After you applied the finish, where did you let it sit to cure? How heavy a coat did you apply? Did you apply multiple coats?

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I now wish I had just left it alone! :( 

 

It has been windy and sunny here and over a week ago since I applied it. The first evening the temps did get below 50 degrees (even thought that has not been the case since the first day or two after I applied it. 

 

Just one coat and not especially too thick. 

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I made a glider, picnic table. and swing out of cedar last spring and applied two or three coats of Helmsman spar urethane on them. I suspected that it wouldn't last long and I was right.

They were beautiful last summer but, after a hard Kansas winter the finish is flaking off this spring.

Right now, I'm debating whether to sand a bit and apply another coat or, just let it all flake off and turn grey. I'm sure that the oiliness of the cedar had a lot to do with the finish failing and I don't necessarily want to make this an annual spring job.

Suggestions for me too?

 

Rog

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This ^^^ is all good advice but I'm gonna go with an Occam's razor kind of theory here...and suggest that it doesn't have anything to do with the finish itself.

 

Don't know where you live...around here in St. Louis, everything has been coated with pollen for the last three or four weeks.  Dollars to donuts that's the issue...all that crap in the air went right for your wet finish like flies on a turd.

 

I'd take some 320 sandpaper, give everything a light sanding, wipe all the dust off with a lightly dampened cloth (mineral spirits or water), then try applying one more thin coat in a garage or anywhere you can be protected from wind and dust and pollen.  Before you do your coat of finish, thoroughly blow out the garage with a leaf blower, and let the dust settle for an hour or so.  Make sure you have ventilation when you're finishing, but the less air disturbance, the better.  Get your finish on, close up the garage, leave for 24 hours.

 

Once the finish has completely cured (give it a few days), you can come back with 1,000 grit or finer wet/dry sandpaper (available at any auto parts store), and lightly sand the finish with a 50/50 mix of mineral spirits and mineral oil.  Wipe down with a rag dampened with mineral spirits, then wipe down again with a clean, dry cloth.  This should give you a silky smooth finish generally free of dust nibs.

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Amanda's...she said "residue."  I took that as meaning "dirty," but I guess I could have misinterpreted.  But yeah, Amanda, if your finish is still tacky...kind of cool and clammy, a bit sticky...you can disregard my entire post...in that case it's a finish problem.  But if it feels hard and dry, just rough and dirty, then I think my post is relevant.

 

Roger's problem...dunno.  I'd guess either oiliness like he said, or possibly the wood wasn't completely dry, or the finish was old or somehow spoiled otherwise.

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I don't doubt that the Helmsman is inferior to the Epifanes...it is a Minwax product, after all, and Epifanes is the holy grail of spar varnish.  But I have a hard time believing that it's that reliably unreliable.  Helmsman has been on the market for as long as I can remember...would they really be able to keep selling the stuff if it never lasted even a full year?  I mean its entire purpose for being is as an outdoor finish.

 

Anyway, I tend to use expensive finishes just for this reason.  Why take the risk by adding another variable?

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I tried Thompson's a few years ago and had the same experience as you, although mine did eventually dry enough to use after a week or two.  I will never use it again.

 

Two years ago i used Sikkens outdoor stain, and it went on very easily, absorbed into the wood in a few hours, and was completely usable the next day.  Now two years later, the furniture  looks as good as it did the first day.  It sits out in the rain all summer, and the snow all winter (Pittsburgh PA).  I will never use anything else for outdoor furniture that I don't want a varnish on.

 

Now, I also made a picnic table years ago that I sealed with 4 coats of Helmsman Spar Urethane.  (minwax I think).  First coat thinned 50% with mineral spirits, next 3 coats full strength.  6 years later, it finally started to show some wear with the finish developing a few cracks.  Sand it down a bit, and apply 2 more coats full strength and it looked perfect again.  Again, sat out in the weather 100% of the time.  My brother did something similar, but (1) he didn't wait for the thin coat of oil based stain he put on to completely dry (2) didn't thin the first coat of Spar Varnish, and (3) only put on 2 coats.  At the end of the first summer it was already peeling off.  As far as the Spar Urethane application goes, I believe it has a lot to do with having the patience to wait the required time for each coat to completely dry before putting on the second coat, and sanding lightly between coats.  The picnic table I mentioned here took me 9 days to put the finish on completely, then I let it sit for three more days before taking it outside.  Maybe overkill, but it worked for me.

 

YMMV  :-)

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I thank you for your suggestions about my flakey finish also. 

The wood was dry, the varnish was as fresh as can be off the store shelf but, I may have rushed it a bit between coats.

It doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things because the items sit on an open patio year around in the middle of Kansas with temps from 110f summer to -15f in winter and I didn't expect any finish to last more than two or three years anyway.

I think I'll just let it go for another year and then may sand them down and re apply another coat.....or not....they are still holding up as far as strength goes.

 

Rog 

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By the way, I built a wooden windmill out of fir cedar back in May of 2011 and did not use any finish at all and it is still standing with the help of some angle iron spikes in the ground.

 

008.jpg

 

Yes it does work altho, it doesn't really do anything but tell me the direction and a little about MPH of the wind. :)

 

Rog

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