I am just about finished building my deck and have used 2×6 premium tight knot cedar for the decking. I am looking for a good quality stain that really keeps its color and has good UV protection. I want to stain the deck in a mahogany/burgundy shade with an ebonized stain on a half board inset border. I built a HUGE deck for a friend 3 years ago with the same decking material. We used Sikkens Cetol SRD Redwood for the stain. It looked fantastic for about a year or so then really faded badly. It also started showing tiny white spots everywhere. I went back to the lumber yard to talk to the stain rep and he failed to inform me when I first bought the stain to wait 6 months for the sap to dry in the cedar. I am very hesitant to use the same stain again even though everyone says it is so good. Anyone have any other products or ideas? Thanks.
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Were you thinking of a solid colour or semi-transparent? Solid colour may seem odd on cedar but you certainly will get the durability and longevity out of an application. Sherwin Williams "Deckscape" are a decent program for this type of application. My cedar deck consists of Deckscape Toner on most of the vericle surfaces and Deckscape waterborne solid stain ( nice colours! ) for the decking. I am fortunate to be able to spray everything prior to installing ( toe screwed from underside ). The waterbased stain "pops" the grain of the cedar so it is pronounced on the finish coat and you can still tell that it's cedar. Do let the decking dry out a few weeks first, apply one light coat of stain first, then spot prime the knots with BIN (red & white lable) then go ahead with a finish coat. Sherwin williams now has a "coatings life extender" as part of the Deckscape product line which is intended to be the first step before your fist coat of waterborne stain. I've not used it but freinds in the feild swear by it. I'm extremely pleased with the finish on the deck and will probably have the opportunity to lounge for another five seasons before a need to re-apply a coat. Good luck with your project!