Spraying deck stain

[bubba]

I have a project coming up where I want to refinish some wood patio furniture. The plan is to rent a pressure sprayer to get as much of the old finish off as possible, and then apply a new finish.

The furniture construction is very slat intensive, and I have no wish to spend time brushing a dozen chairs and a table. I own an HVLP sprayer, and I am wondering if I can apply deck stain with it.

Have any of you done this? Is a different type of sprayer better for this type of application, like a wagner power painter? Also, if there is a better alternative to deck stain for applying a colored opaque finish, I would love to hear about it.

Thanks!

[Woodenfish]

Exactly what kind of wood is the patio set made from?

[bubba]

Not sure. It is two different store bought sets that I want to color the same. They are both Asian mystery woods.

[Wild Turkey]

Is the deck stain "semi-transparent" or "solid" -- ie, how much pigment?

HVLP should handle it. I've sprayed it with weed sprayer, Power Painter and airless (my preference).

I got a small airless at a pawn shop for not much more than the Power Painter and it's served me well for several years, unlike the PP.

[bubba]

I don't have a stain picked out yet. I was hoping that someone here would chime in with a recommendation...

[woodmanjm]

My only comment is to be careful picking your stain. I used a Behr semi-transparent stain. It started peeling by the next year, but in places has held on like paint, and my pressure washer will not remove it. I am either sanding it off or using paint remover to get rid of it so I can start over. There are some products that really are more of a stain.
John

[Snipe Hunter]

I've sprayed deck stain with turbine HVLP equipment with no problems. I will say that it's very wasteful compared to rollers and brushes. there's no overspray with a brush. I started the project with spray but switched over to traditional methods.

[bhh]

I've painted a shed once and another one applied S-W Woodscapes twice over the years with a Wagner airless sprayer. Both about 8x12 feet. Less than half an hour, including clean up time. Very little overspray.

Whether or not you can use your HVLP depends on your tip size(s), CFM capacity, and viscosity of chosen material. Your manual should give you some guidance.

I've also spray finished a number of chairs (clear finish HVLP). No way I'd want to do a chair with brush or rag. So I think your patio furniture would be the same. Just too many interior surface and joints to try to keep a wet edge on. I'd say it takes me less than 2 minutes to do a chair with a sprayer, including time to flip it over and reset on a turn table.


If it saves me 2 days time, I'm willing to spend an extra $10 on materials.

[bubba]

bhh said:

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If it saves me 2 days time, I'm willing to spend an extra $10 on materials.

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Kind of what I was thinking. I brushed some of the chairs once before, and they took forever and didn't turn out that great.

I will go ahead and give it a shot. I suppose that I can probably thin the stain as required to get it to work with my gun. By the way, it is one of the cheap Harbor Freight HVLP sprayers.