Water or Oil Based Stain for Drive Gates?

The maker of the planed pinewood gates recommends an oil based treatment but others recommend water based. I've been looking at Cuprinol, Sadolin etc, Sikkens looks good but pricey. I'm sure there are other makes available. Red cedar shade is preferable. Any recommendations?

I have never had any look with waterbased treatment on planed wood, its just not absorbant enough. Water based ok for rough sawn finish that can soak up the water.

I am still Looking for some treatment for wood railings/ gate myself. I have used many different treatments but none that i would recommend.

At the moment i am going over it with a teak oil, it soaks in and gives reasonable protection but needs doing very regularly (several times a year). In its favour there is no old scabby finish to fetch off like a varnish would leave so recoating doesn't take long and its not very expensive - I think some of the oil based treatment must be made from black rhino horn, i usually have to have a sit down and a brandy after seeing the price. You wouldn't mind paying it if you knew for sure it was the holy grail of wood treatments but it's difficult to justify as an unknown, obviously the people selling it say theirs is the best but they would.

Sikkens is definitely worth the money. I have a plywood garage door that was factory treated with two coats of Sikkens microporous. I don't know what was used for the top coat but there is a sticker on the inside recommending three different products, two of which are Sikkens again. This has to be done within three months.

The door was installed in 1993 and has never needed any further treatment. I just give it a wash with soapy water and rinse it down every so often.

Not cedar red......I hate it! I used to work for Ronseal ans couldn't believe how popular that shade is.

You are better off paying for good quality stuff. If you get water based get one with a high wax content if its not a varnish.

We use teak oil on our cedar or any hardwood. We have used high wax content waterbased stuff, the stain / protector and creocote type stuff on fences. It depends how often you want to treat it and what you want the finish to look like.

Sikkens is definitely worth the money. I have a plywood garage door that was factory treated with two coats of Sikkens microporous. I don't know what was used for the top coat but there is a sticker on the inside recommending three different products, two of which are Sikkens again. This has to be done within three months.

The door was installed in 1993 and has never needed any further treatment. I just give it a wash with soapy water and rinse it down every so often.

Agree with Jim H (even though he is an Owl!). Sikkens is well worth the extra cost in the long term. When I used it I had to buy two tins 'cause it came in an initial base coat, followed by a top coat. Currently I think Cetol HLS Plus can be used by itself. Don't think, however, it comes in the shade you're after.

echo.