staining problem

I have to stain a new rough sawn pt pine privacy fence. It has weathered for about 4 months so it's good to go. I knew right off the bat that the wood was going to be somewhat of a problem to stain being that it's pine and rough sawn to boot. I picked up a gal of cabot semi-transparent redwood 6300 series and it looked awful. The wood soaked so much of the stain up it looked painted. I sampled a second section but used wood conditioner first and it looked much better and lighter than the first try. I'm just not sure if using the wood conditioner will hamper the UV protection of the stain. I'm also thinking going with a really light color might be the answer.

 

I've never heard of anyone using wood conditioner on exterior wood, is it even rated for the exterior?

Whenever wood is rough sawn or porous it will really drink up the paint/stain. A lighter stain may be more pleasing to you. The good news is by applying more stain per sq foot you should wind up with a longer lasting job. You could spray the stain on and not back brush it {} but it wouldn't last as long