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Finishing Exterior Wood

Keeping outdoor wood looking good isn't like most things in life. When you turn the ignition key in your car, the engine almost always starts; flip the wall switch and the light goes on; turn on the TV and the picture is bright, the sound clear. Yes, most things around us work well, but this isn't necessarily so with finishes for decks, fences, and lawn furniture. Outdoor wood finishes are something like computers. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. It's easy to prove this to yourself. Just look around. Isn't it true that most outdoor wood is grey and old-looking? And if it has any finish at all, it's probably peeling. Beautiful outdoor wood is rare enough that it always attracts attention, begging the question: why can't manufacturers deliver the same level of reliable satisfaction here as we've come to expect in other areas of consumer life?

It's not that the wizards of industry ignore your plight as an owner of outdoor wood. They're trying hard to give you products that deliver long-lasting beauty, while demanding a minimum of effort on your part. They know the pay-off will be huge. But the challenge is great. Very great. Rain, snow, ice, wide swings in temperature and humidity, variations in wood chemistry, under-foot abrasion and sunshine conspire to make protecting outdoor wood the most difficult finishing application on the planet. Difficult, but not insurmountable. Here's what you need to know to be among the select few who understand what to expect from various outdoor wood finishing options, and how to coax the best out of them.

Be Prepared
It's easy to believe that the crucial step in creating a long-lasting outdoor finish is the choice you make at the store shelf, but this isn't entirely true.Although product selection is important, the best outdoor wood finishes in the world will fail if you simply brush them on and hope. It's not that easy. Beautiful outdoor wood is as much a product of effort as chemistry. There are two reasons why.

Reason #1 has to do with new lumber and it's low absorbency. The fast rotation of the planer knives that transformed rough lumber into the gleaming boards you bought also left behind a legacy of crushed, burnished fibres and heat-sealed surface resins that prevent finishing liquids from penetrating deeply enough to gain a good hold. This is called mill-glaze and it causes more premature finish failures than any other cause. More on how to remove mill-glaze later.

Reason #2 is an old wood

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