CPES Phobia!

[Donn]

I'm at the point where the finish goes on the frame of the outdoor workbench. The final finish will be Behr's Premium Wood-toned Weatherproofing Wood Sealer & Finish, silicone enhanced, water-based, alkyd/acrylic penetrating oil formula, with mildewcide, cedar tone.

It has been suggested that I apply CPES to the exposed endgrain of the frame's lumber. I have a 2 gallon kit of cold-weather CPES at hand, but am concerned about a couple of things. I've read everything on the forum about CPES (and some mighty funny stuff it is) but can't find the answers.

1. Will the CPES play nice with the above mentioned deck sealer? IE...after applying CPES to the endgrain, I am assuming that the sealer won't penetrate the wood, but will just dry right on top of the CPES.

2. Will the CPES play nice with the cured PL Premium construction adhesive that is at every joint of the frame?

3. Should I just save the CPES for my boats, and only use the deck sealer?

[thechemist]

Usually the knowledge base of cross-compatibility of different materials from different manufacturers is created by individuals such as yourself consulting the experiences of others and also doing their own independent experiments.

I'm kind of curious myself about that construction adhesive, never having tried it. Compatibility issues with that kind of material are likely to be only with solvents such as CPES has.

Compatibility issues with your overcoat stain are likely to be with the ability of the overcoat to polymerize and cure, and to chemically bond to/be bonded by the stuff below. You might take a bit of your topcoat stain and paint in on a plastic bag or other polyethylene film, and let it cure a few days. If you have a resulting film that can be peeled off the plastic, much as a paint or varnish, I would expect it to be something that would stick to the CPES-on-wood.

[Scott Rosen]

I think it's overkill to CPES an outdoor workbench. The exception would be if you were going to paint it.

[Concordia..41]

I thought it was a WBF rule that you CPES anything that'll hold still :D

It was Cleek that said it even made a good sunscreen - but then retracted the comment before 'some horse's arse thinks I'm serious...'

-M

[The Schooner Etain]

See, I knew I should have kept reading, I hit the "makes a good sunscreen" statement and got all excited. It's ok though, the doctors say the skin should grow back and look normal in a few months.

Chris

[Jerry Sousa]

Donn, If you're trying to prevent rot, then why not just CPES the ends of the legs, which touch the ground? The bottom of the legs should rot before anything else under the conditions you stated. Some CPES on the tops of the frames where it meets the bench top would'nt hurt either.

Then you could apply the final sealer to the leg's ends and see what effect CPES has on the sealer, without altering the look of the bench.

[Gary E]

Donn,

Since there seems to be so many diferent opinions of whats good, whats better, and whats best, why not make an experiment out of this, if you have 4 methods do each leg and 1/4 of the top in a diferent way. Keep track of it and let eveyone know what happens in 4 or 5 yrs. After all it is only a workbench.

G

[oldriverat]

Whatever you do, just be careful not to scratch that new bench. :rolleyes:

[High C]

Pressure treated pine where the legs contact the ground?

[Donn]

You got it, JT...it'll have sacrificial PT shoes. I coated the frame yesterday, with deck sealer everywhere. When I assemble the top, it's edges will all be CPES'ed, and the flat surfaces will be deck sealer. The edges are layers of ply and pine, so I think the CPES will be well used there.

[Dave Fleming]

Hmmm, Aluminium Oil Based Paint was a popular method of sealing edge grain of exterior ply.

"Nice colour contrast with the deck stain too."

<insert running and ducking figure of O&O West>