Penofin - done!

I finally got the last portion of the ipe treated with the Penofin preservative.   It had a few application constraints -- scrub it down, let it dry 48 hours, apply when the wood is cool to the touch, wipe it down 20-30 minutes after application, oh, and only do it when there's no chance of rain for 24 hours... oy.  This was my third round.  I had scrubbed it down Friday morning.  It was ready for the application Sunday morning -- and I was not going to let the window of opportunity pass.

I awakened Sunday morning with a really bad stomach ache.  I had a little bit of coffee on my porch with neighbors, and as our conversation lingered I found myself shifting from sitting in the porch chair, to laying sideways in the chair, to laying on the porch itself with just my legs up in the chair, to laying stretched out on my stomach on the porch.  Obviously we were there for a couple of hours... but man, I felt like dirt. I was trying to build up the motivation to mow my lawn, and to apply the final treatment of Penofin before it got to 100 degrees outside.

Finally we decided we should all get on with our day.  We stood up, cleared the cups off the porch, neighbors left, and I promptly tossed my cookies.  Ahhh.  No wonder I felt like dirt!  Well, you know the lull after you throw up when you think -- "Oh!  I'll probably feel better now" ?  That's when I dashed out and did the Penofin:

I know, right, because that's what normal people do?  Throw up and then go apply a stinky wood preservative?  I'll tell you, the waiting 20 minutes to wipe off the excess didn't happen. I waited about 10, and then cranked up the ceiling fan and crawled into bed.  I just crawled out of it this morning.

But damn, my steps look good.

Ahhh -- so nice!

We had an intense round of  thunderstorms overnight!  The thunder woke me up around 3, and I mostly tossed and turned after that, listening to the blissful sounds of rain.  I nearly got up to go sit on my porch, but ultimately was too lazy -- snuggled down in the bed.  Doggy never even lifted her head -- she is unphased by storms.

My rain barrels are replenished -- well, except for the one on my back steps that I have out of place while in the process of applying wood preservative.  It almost killed me to not let that one fill up... but considering it weighs over 400 pounds full, I made myself leave it alone.  I noted this morning that where I have already applied preservative the water beaded up on the wood.  Sweet.

My tomatoes were tipped over from the winds, but don't appear to have sustained any real damage.  I uprighted them and they seem fine.  I did, however, notice that another tomato has been munched on by something -- and this time a green one!  I think I'm going to put the bird netting over them that I bought for my raspberries (and put on, then removed, because I hadn't given it a proper structure.)  And I also have a gizmo that you hook up to the hose and it's motion sensitive -- when it senses motion it sprays water!  I'd been needing a good reason to take it out of the box -- and this is it.  It's been suggested to me that it isn't squirrels eating them... and frankly I'm not sure I want to know what else it might be...

I am so pleased with the good soaking all my plants got -- the morning seemed all fresh and new.  We had such a pleasant dog walk this morning -- and everyone I passed was in almost a holiday mood with the change in weather.  I'll enjoy it while I can.

And a shout-out to my parents, who celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary on Sunday, and to my sister in Minnesota, who just had her birthday -- I promise, my gift should have arrived by now!! 

Ipe and Penofin

I'm finally in the process of treating the Ipe lumber on my backsteps.  I did quite a bit of research and decided to use Penofin for Exotic Hardwoods.  It isn't a stain, and it isn't a sealant... it's just a preservative so that the wood doesn't gray.  Only one store in all of Dallas carried it -- and it was up north.  Several weeks ago I did a road trip to buy a gallon.

The instructions were somewhat daunting:  Scrub down the wood and let it dry for 48 hours.  (And in the meantime keep muddy dog paws off of it.)  Then, when the wood is cool to the touch and the outdoor ambient temperature is below 80 degrees, apply it with a China bristle brush.  20-30 minutes after application, wipe off the excess or it will be tacky. 

I decided not to do all of the surfaces at once, and to begin with just the bottom 3 steps.  I scrubbed them down Sunday morning.  Sunday afternoon I went to Home Depot to buy a China bristle bruch.  No brushes were labeled as such... turns out that means a natural bristled brush.  Apparently -- and I'm not making this up -- the Chinese were the first ones to use animal hair (natural bristles) in brushes, and so they are called China bristle.  ?? I'm calling for some consistency in labeling...  At any rate, I procured said China bristle brush and a can of turpentine for clean up.

This morning?  Lumber is clean and dry:  Check.  Temperature is below 80.  Check.  Lumber is cool to the touch.  Check.  I brushed on the Penofin, took the d.o.g. for a walk, and came back and wiped off the excess.

Behold:

Whoa!  Talk about a total makeover!  I like it though.  And look how the Penofin really brings out the grain of the wood:

Tonight I'll scrub down the landing above the steps, and I'll apply the Penofin Friday morning before work.  I think I'll have to do the big landing in two sections...