Dark Walnut, 5-Gallon

Staining a fence is a significant decision because fences are expensive and stain is permanent. I recently installed a 8’, 300 foot new cedar fence with treated pine posts. For staining purposes, that means 600 feet of surface to cover. After waiting a couple months for it to season and the moisture content of the wood to fall well below recommended 12%, (mine was about 5% according to the Kline meter-also great Amazon purchase), I was ready to stain/seal my new fence. The world of fence staining is competitive marketplace. Lots of products, reviews, theories, pitfalls, etc. and the quality and durability of those products seems to have a wide variety of success and failure. Again, failure is not an option for $25,000+ investment, nor is not protecting the fence by not sealing/staining it. Here is why I chose Ready Seal: Laytex vs. Oil based. My experience has always been that oil based products last, and penetrate better than laytex. But, oil is messy and has a higher VOC (smell). I wanted the product to penetrate the wood as deeply as possible. Oil does that better. Ready Seal does that very well. Ready Seal is advertised as “Goof Proof” and it truly is. The “goof” they are talking about is having runs and streaks in your fence, which again is a permanent problem. To avoid this problem, Ready Seal soaks into the wood pretty slowly, it is essentially dry to the touch after an hour, and it continues to soak in over the next few days. The key selling point for me, however, was the ability to re-apply the product as needs without any streaking for the life of the fence, without any need to strip it, etc. In this regard, a fence is like a sponge, it soaks up Ready Seal, and it can be “added to” over time. That is really a useful aspect, that saves a lot of time, money and effort, and allows one to selectively protect your fence over its lifetime. I used a low pressure, 15 gallon, electric garden sprayer made by Velore (on Amazon) to apply the Ready Seal. It worked extremely well for this application. [I removed the filter on the intake hose because of the pigment would clog the filter] You do two coats of Ready Seal, but the majority of the soaking in occurs on the first coat. I’d say it’s about 70/30 in that regard. On my fence, I used 50 gallons of Ready Seal. Read all the instructions and prep. No sealer/stain will work if the surface is dirty and the product cannot soak in. They don’t have a lot of color selection is one downside. I went with Light Oak #505 on a cedar/treated pine posts fence. Ready Seal will send you samples to try out. (The samples are tiny, you might want 2-3 of the packs) Their cedar color was too red for my taste when put on top of an already cedar fence. It’s a personal choice at that point, but the pigment/color is necessary to help block damage causing, UV light. Last, the folks at Ready Seal were extremely helpful. There are not many companies these days where you can call in the middle of a project and get an answer from a human being—-especially a person who is familiar with the product, applying it, etc. Much thanks to Ready Seal folks for being so available and so helpful at answering questions. I have no regrets on using this product, it looks great, easy to apply, works as advertised, and is well supported by a reputable company and staff located in the USA. I highly recommend it. Darrin D, Memphis TN.

Good stuff ! Easy to apply and covers well Using on cedar rail fencing…approximately 800’ So I’ll need two 5 gallon buckets total 🤷🏻‍♂️

I have over 1,000 feet of rough cut cedar post and rail fence. It was installed 2 years ago, so it had a decent amount of weathering (i.e., grey coloring) on it. I followed Ready Seal's instructions and washed it with bleach/water mixture. Then used an oxalic acid mixture to clear the black staining (from the wood's reaction to the metal hardware). Lastly, I put two coats of stain on. I thought I was going to get away with a single coat, but the stain soaked in so deep that it was quite noticeable. The wood started to have almost a sickly look to it (not sure how else to explain it). Good news is that I know the stain soaked in really deep. :)The result is absolutely beautiful. I love this stain because it really soaks in. I actually stained a smaller portion of the fence that I build myself several years ago. While there was still the gray/weathering on it, it was noticeably different to clean/stain. It seemed like there was still a subsurface layer of sealant protecting the wood. Pretty cool. That being said, if I had just stained it when I first had it put in, I wouldn't have had to do the bleach or acid wash - which is a huge pain. I didn't do it originally because the price of a 5-gallon bucket of this stain went from $75 to $200. It was simply too much after spending $20K on the fence itself. I ended up purchasing 16 of them this summer for $174 each (yes, over $2700). Not much of a savings but a LOT more work. I had to get a bleach spray and an acid sprayer. I should have just stained it 2 years ago. I used a drill attachment to mix the stain and blend buckets, which made that part go much faster. Ready Seal recommended a pump sprayer for applying it, so I purchased one and used it. Once I learned how use it correctly, I think I was able to put the stain on with less waste then using a brush; however, given the sheer amount of fence I have, my left arm (pumping arm) was pretty wore out. I will look into to other solutions in the future. In the end I like the idea of not having to scrape/chip/strip paint off of my fence and just lightly wash and add another coat of stain next time. I highly recommend this product.

I really like this stain. I used it on my new fence and it went on so well! Looks great! It is everything it says it is: "no back brushing and will never leave runs, laps, or streaks. Requires no wet-line application, the product will blend itself and can be applied in any temperature range for proper application". I applied this in the absolute hottest days of the summer trying to beat an upcoming thunderstorm and it was so effortless to work with. I highly recommend this product.

This is a very good stain and it has been very effective on fence. My biggest complaint on the 5 gallon can is the process out pouring out into the sprayer. The team that designed the 5 gallon can must be a bunch of psychos with no clear logic on how to hold and pour out to smaller containers. Unless you use a siphon, there will be spills everywhere.

I used the natural cedar in an electric sprayer. My deck is new fresh sawn larch (tamarack) and 20 year old pressure treated pine. I followed the instructions bleached the whole deck let it dry for half the summer. Moisture meter got down to 15-18%% on all of it. Not ideal. I sprayed on a 5 gallon pail it soaked into the old wood and disappeared instantly. It mostly sat on top of the new wood. I used some old towels and simply rubbed the stain all over the deck. Old school staining techniques. The stain dried where you didn't get any color on your socks in a few hours. It appears oily if that's an accurate word a month later. Water beads up on it. The rough sawn larch looks like it does when wet which is the color I wanted. Couldn't be happier. The older wood didn't change color much if at all. So be aware this stuff is not paint. It's simply an oil stain. The instructions are clear about the moisture. My deck was too wet to stain but mopping it on worked with no residue. I didn't want the deck to sit exposed all winter with no oil on it. I didn't apply a 2nd coat there's no way. Overall I'm very happy with the color and how it went on. No streaks . I strongly recommend a sprayer I was able to paint my whole deck including the railings both sides and get cleaned up in about 4 hours. Not happing in a whole weekend with a brush. The deck is about 3200 sq/ft floor area, plus all the railings and raised beds. Because it didn't really soak in I used 10 gallons it covered it all. The dryer sections took more. Because it's easy to use and dries fast, plan on reapplying every year and you won't be disappointed. No stain lasts forever.

P.S. We paid for our product-- this isn't a paid endorsement! Our deck was 3-yrs. old, never stained, grey, weathered so badly [first 2-photos]-- some of the steps were deteriorating into a "checkered" pattern, i.e., disintegrating. Blasting hot Southern sun, monsoons, wind. More sun. More grey. Rapid aging. Never stained it because product review were so BAD! Until... Tripped onto Ready Seal on Amazon after reading dozens, hundreds of reviews of so many different products. Skip the 5-Star-- just read the 1-Star Reviews. Loads of research over these 3-years, but nothing popped. Until Ready Seal came on the horizon. Minimal 1-Stars. Started watching every video I could find on RS. YouTube, Amazon, Ready Seal's proprietary videos. Reading data sheets on RS's website. Tons more research. Months pass. Convinced. Buy two 5-gal. totes of Natural Cedar. I wanted the "most orange" color RS offered. I call this "Backwards Prep." Order the supply before I'm ready to do the work. This gives me the incentive to "go all in. Not back out. Forge ahead. Wait for the monsoons to stop. Research a little more. Learn how to turn this amateur gig into professional. Techniques. Tools. Materials needed. Temperature range required. Moisture! Ready Seal has GREAT Customer Service. Phoned twice. Second time, a super-hot-shot very UP on his game figured out I was using the WRONG Moisture Meter (for interior, drywall-- wrong). Off to Lowe's for a Kobalt Pin Type Moisture Meter #SC-MM150 Digital #4882343 Model #SC-MM150. See, that is great Customer Service when the Rep. listens so intently-- they can figure out what you're doing wrong (getting wonky readings) and help correct the problem. Staining a requires PATIENCE, kiddoes. Especially if you're goofy enough to stain your deck during monsoon season. Dry as a bone in the a.m. Start to stain-- finally! STARTS POURING DOWN RAIN halfway through. This prompts a call to RS: usually 12% or less moisture is required for staining-- but since you live in Monsoonville, you can go 15% on the first application. This gives the green light-- this deck wood will NEVER be 12% this wet summer. Moisture meter checks every day. Finally a narrow window opens up-- dry for just a few days, long enough for a staining Marathon. Ready Seal is everything we needed it to be. Easy to open. Easy to stir. Easy to apply (I started by using a beautiful brush. Ended up using a sponge as it made it SO easy to stain in-between boards and was easier on the wrist. Deck is 8x12-ft. Took 20-hrs. TOTAL for everything-- was able to squeeze-in 2-coats during the few days of sun. Stained everything: topsides, railings, in-between the boards, UNDERNEATH the decking, underneath the steps, 4x4 uprights, sides of boards-- every square inch of that deck. Twice. NOTE 1: if your deck is badly weathered, you'll need MORE than you think. Ran through an entire 5-gal. can doing two coats, plus maybe a Qt. from 2nd 5-gal. tote. That's two coats on an 8x12 deck. Our wood, especially the steps, were so badly "chapped" that all the wood soaked up the thin stain like nobody's bidnezz. The stain is "thin," not gloppy. If you didn't know better, you'd think it was water base. Use gloves! Old clothes. We laid down a layer of cardboard under the deck to 1/ Catch drippings 2/ for a clean, slick surface to slide around on to reach all those nooks and crannies. To me it didn't make sense to just stain topsides and leave unstained wood underneath our deck. Obviously if your deck is just a few inches off the ground, you won't be staining underneath! NOTE 2: Great addition to 1/ Protecting the steps from SUN and WIND and 2/ Safety was the addition of the STAIR TREADS [Rubber-Cal "Diamond-Plate Non-Slip Rubber Tread Stair Mats (6 Pack), Black $35.64 for six]. They really set off the Natural Cedar and really make the Ready Seal POP! I wanted some way to protect the stair treads from the brutal sun, to stop the "checking" damage. NOTE 3: ANOTHER great addition to our deck, that also keeps the SUN off and will add more years to our deck is that I erected Deck Sails [SUNNY GUARD Sun Shade Sail 10'x10'x10' Triangle Grey White Tripe UV Block Sunshade for Backyard Yard Deck Patio Garden Outdoor Activities and Facility] using 1-in. Galvanized Electrical conduit as "masts" attached to the 4x4 uprights. No cement needed. The sails keep the deck COOL, and minimize UV rays from ruining our beautiful Ready Seal. [Photos.] Sunny Guard has various sizes and shapes. We've since put up 5-Sails on this 8x12 deck, to keep our kitchen COOLER in summer. Makes a HUGE difference. The deck stays cools even though it's on the roasting WEST side of the house. Use "J-Hooks" on the 1-in. metal poles and bungee-cord to the Sails, then you can easily take them down for an approaching bad windstorm. No shortcuts. But every DAY I thank God we took the time to research this project and to do it right (waited until deck wood was <15% moisture). And got in two coats. The treads. The sails. Looks like a completely different deck, and now is a really gorgeous outdoor space-- that somehow even seems a bit bigger now, too. THANK YOU READY SEAL. You will NOT be sorry.

This product is perfect. It goes in easily and blends itself making it easy to stop and restart applications. Our fence is just a little over a year old, so this is the first time we’ve applied sealant. It’s taking a lot of product for the first application, which we knew it would, but I really underestimated how much I would need. I’m so thankful that this seller provided fairly quick shipping.